Outreach

Porchlight Music Theatre is involved in several outreach projects in the community with the aim of helping to nurture youth and underserved audiences' understanding and appreciation of the music theatre genre.

Through its revitalized Community Outreach Program, members of underserved populations experience live, professional theater as Porchlight Music Theatre's guests. For many of these participants, the Porchlight production is their first such experience. Porchlight targets youth groups and hosts around three hundred guests per season. We are grateful to annual grant monies from the A.R.T. League and individual donations which help fund this program. Porchlight has regularly hosted intergenerational groups through special partnerships with the Humanities Department at Kennedy-King College and with Storycatchers Theatre (the former Music Theatre Workshop). Over the past few seasons, students from Smyser Chicago Public Elementary School, Foreman High School, North Lawndale College Prep Charter High School, and Gallery 37 have been guests.

Representative quotes from participants:

"I was expecting to see the show on the wall."
A Nigerian student from Kennedy King College who experienced live, professional theater for the first time with Phantom

"The production met all the expectations I had. The singing was really wonderful, the acting even better than I expected because it touched my heart."
A female teen from West Pullman who saw Ragtime at the Apollo

"I expected a great show and it exceeded my expectations with a larger cast and ranging story. I would come again and highly recommend the show to others."
A male teen from West Pullman who saw Ragtime at the Apollo

"I felt like I was part of the play."
13 year old girl from Kennedy-King College group who saw The Secret Garden

"I identified with the Phantom, not because I think that I am ugly but because I identified with his internal conflict."
North Lawndale College Prep Charter High School female senior who saw Phantom

"The conflict that caught my attention was abandonment and envy. The Phantom’s face isolated him from society while a beautiful voice provokes jealousy. I connected with the Phantom and he feels about the world, abandoned by the hatred of mankind."
North Lawndale College Prep Charter High School male senior who saw Phantom

More Ways Porchlight Gives Back

As a service to the public, Porchlight contributes complimentary tickets to a broad range of Chicagoland educational, arts, and social service organization fundraisers.

This fall during the run of The Fantasticks and of Macabaret, Porchlight collected over $4,000 for Season of Concern which serves those in the theater community suffering from AIDS and HIV.

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