THEATER REVIEW: "Feast" by Albany Park Theater Project at the Goodman Theatre. “Feast” will next be staged Oct. 15 to Nov. 13 at the Laura Wiley Theater, 5100 N. Ridgeway. Best for ages 12 and up. Tickets on sale now, contact 800-838-3006 and www.aptpchicago.org.
At the end of “Feast,” the remarkable production by the Albany Park Theatre Project showcased Tuesday night at the Goodman Theatre, the members of the 21-strong, multi-ethnic teenage ensemble introduced themselves individually. “And we,” someone says at the end, “are APTP.”
If you know people who doubt the vital importance of arts in the schools — or, as in this case, the arts in the lives of teenagers — you should drag them by the wrist to Albany Park this fall, make them watch that moment, make them stare at the glowing faces of these thrilled kids, and ask them to defend their point of view.
The benefits are so obvious — self esteem, tolerance, articulation skills, awareness of difference, pride in personal history, collaborative skills for the future. The kids in this show have roots in Puerto Rico, the rural Philippines, India, Mexico. They loved telling their stories, clearly. But I don't anything quite matched that final moment when they said who they were. I wish I belonged to something like that myself.