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WTTW to premiere 60-minute special ALBANY PARK THEATER PROJECT: FEAST Taped at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre

Thursday, May 12 at 10:00 pm on WTTW11, Friday, May 13 at 4:00 pm on WTTW Prime 11.2, and online at wttw.com

For immediate release
Chicago, IL - April 19, 2016

WTTW, one of the Midwest’s premier public media organizations, will premiere ALBANY PARK THEATER PROJECT: FEAST, an acclaimed local theater production devised and performed by Albany Park Theater Project (APTP), the company’s 25-member “prodigiously gifted youth ensemble” (Chicago Sun-Times).  The production was taped by WTTW at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre in summer 2015 and will premiere on WTTW11 on Thursday, May 12 at 10:00 pm, will repeat on WTTW’s Prime channel (11.2/Comcast 370/RCN 37) on Friday, May 13 at 4:00 pm, and will be available online at wttw.com.

FEAST is a theatrical love letter to Chicago’s diverse food culture and joyful cooking traditions, featuring heart-warming stories harvested from Chicago's kitchens, street corners, butchers, bodegas, farmers and fishermen. The 60-minute production is a collection of tales, touching on heirloom recipes, entrepreneurship, migration and heritage, that celebrate the nourishment and delight that come from good food, lovingly prepared.

“As with all of APTP’s works, FEAST was created by our youth ensemble, based on interviews they conducted in communities throughout Chicago,” said David Feiner, APTP Producing Artistic Director.  “FEAST is one of the most beloved shows in APTP’s repertoire. We can’t imagine a better television home for this celebration of the role that food plays in nourishing families and communities. At a time when our city and state keep making negative headlines, FEAST showcases Chicago teens working together with love and intimacy, demonstrating resilience and optimism, creating an original work of art that envisions a more just and beautiful world, and filling the Goodman Theatre, one of the city’s premiere cultural institutions, with their stories, their vitality, and their promise."

FEAST was one of the most critically hailed Chicago theater events of 2015. Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune called FEAST “Moving, Provocative, Beautiful, Honest.”  Hedy Weiss at the Chicago Sun-Times agreed: “Altogether astonishing…a rare experience on every level.” John Carruthers at New City hailed it as “a tremendous achievement… FEAST is recommended without reservations.” And renowned chef Rick Bayless (who knows something about food) declared it “one of the most moving, impressive, hilarious shows I’ve seen in a long time…Delicious.”

The presentation of FEAST at Goodman’s 350-seat Owen Theatre was captured on tape for television audiences by WTTW’s Emmy-winning producer/director Daniel Andries. “Collaborating with Albany Park Theater Project to preserve the brilliant moments they create on stage has been a satisfying and humbling process for the past decade we’ve worked together,” said Andries. “WTTW’s decision to share FEAST with the wider community is a great endorsement of the profound work of a teen theater ensemble that is wise and gifted beyond their years. We are confident that our audiences will be as engaged as we were the first time we saw their work,” he added.

“We at Goodman Theatre have proudly hosted the ‘downtown debut’ of Albany Park Theater Project’s acclaimed productions in a unique partnership that has introduced nearly 10,000 new audience members to this extraordinary theater company,” said Robert Falls, Artistic Director of Goodman Theatre, where summertime APTP collaborations include Feast (2015 and 2010), God’s Work (2014), Home/Land (2013) and Aqui Estoy (2008).  “We are thrilled that the delightfully uplifting and moving Feast will now have life beyond the stage.”

ALBANY PARK THEATER PROJECT: FEAST is produced and directed by Daniel Andries and Anne Northrup. Director of Photography: Pete Biagi. Camera: Dana Kupper and Alan Thatcher. Editor: Christopher Gotschall. Post-Production:  Cutters Studios. Executive Producer: Craig Duncan.

About WTTW
WTTW is a premier public media organization committed to creating and presenting unique television and digital media content across four distinct television channels – WTTW11, WTTW Prime, the Spanish-language channel WTTW Vme, and WTTW Create/WTTW WORLD, and on wttw.com. Recognized for award-winning local and national productions such as Chicago Tonight, Check, Please!, and MEXICO – One Plate at a Time with Rick Bayless, WTTW presents the very best in public affairs, arts and culture, nature and science, history and documentary, and children’s programming to 2 million weekly viewers across a four-state area. Visitors to wttw.com can connect with others in the community and access a full library of local and national video content for kids and adults, interactive features, and robust websites dedicated to WTTW and PBS series and specials. Connect with WTTW on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

About Albany Park Theater Project
Albany Park Theater Project is a multiethnic youth ensemble that inspires people to envision a more just and beautiful world. The company is a 2016 recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, which recognizes exceptional nonprofit organizations who have demonstrated creativity and impact.  APTP's youth ensemble tells the real-life stories of those whose lives are not normally represented on stage, amplifying the voices both of the youth telling the stories and the individuals whose stories are being shared. Since the ensemble’s founding, APTP teens have created 19 original, evening-length plays, performed for more than 50,000 people, and opened Albany Park’s first performing arts space. APTP has received numerous local and national awards, most notably the Midwest Light of Human Rights Award from the National Immigrant Justice Center and the Coming Up Taller Award from the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.  Chicago Tribune and CBS 2 Chicago critic Chris Jones proclaimed APTP “a world-class theater company.”  Hedy Weiss of the Chicago Sun-Times called APTP “a creative universe that simply has no equal,” and said the company’s youth ensemble “can compete with any Equity cast, and…displays a virtuosity, ease, charm, polish, humor, political bite and, above all, an emotional depth and cohesive spirit.”

About Goodman Theatre
Called America’s “Best Regional Theatre” by Time magazine, Goodman Theatre has won international recognition for its artists, productions and programs, and is a major cultural, educational and economic pillar in Chicago. Founded in 1925 by William O. Goodman and his family in honor of their son Kenneth (an important figure in Chicago’s cultural renaissance in the early 1900s), Goodman Theatre has garnered hundreds of awards for artistic achievement and community engagement, including: two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards (including “Outstanding Regional Theatre” in 1992), nearly 160 Joseph Jefferson Awards and more. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, the Goodman’s artistic priorities include new plays (more than 150 world or American premieres in the past 30 years), reimagined classics (including Falls’ nationally and internationally celebrated productions of Death of a Salesman, Long’s Day’s Journey into Night, King Lear and The Iceman Cometh, many in collaboration with actor Brian Dennehy), culturally specific work, musical theater (26 major productions in 20 years, including 10 world premieres) and international collaborations. Diversity and inclusion have been primary cornerstones of the Goodman’s mission for 30 years; over the past decade, 68% of the Goodman’s 35 world premieres were authored by women and/or playwrights of color, and the Goodman was the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson’s “American Century Cycle.” Each year, the Goodman’s numerous education and community engagement programs—including the innovative Student Subscription Series, now in its 30th year—serve thousands of students, teachers, life-long learners and special constituencies. In addition, for nearly four decades the annual holiday tradition of A Christmas Carol has led to the creation of a new generation of theatergoers in Chicago. Visit the Goodman virtually at GoodmanTheatre.org, and on Twitter (@GoodmanTheatre), Facebook and Instagram.