Northsiders Voice Their Truths in"Divercity" - playing May 13-22

Tellin’ Tales Theatre presents Divercity performing live– May 13-15 at the Greenhouse Theater, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago and virtually— May 13-22 on Vimeo. The Saturday evening live performance will include sign language interpretation, audio description and an after-show talk back. The virtual show includes closed captioning and audio description. The theme is “Voicing our Truths.”

Divercity is directed by Tekki Lomnicki, co-founder and artistic director of Tellin’ Tales Theatre, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary. All of the performers are writers, actors and advocates with disabilities, from Chicago, Evanston, Rock Island, Indiana and Ohio. They include Northsiders Whitney Hill, Joel Margolis and Ben Saylor. (see more info about each of them below)

Stories range from failed vegan cheese making and discovering one’s inner goddess to a fateful train ride in Romania. Live tickets are available at Greenhousetheater.org or 773-404-7336 and virtual tickets can be purchased at Tellintales.org. Ticket holders will be emailed a link to watch the video one-hour before the show. Closed captioning and audio description will be available.

“I am excited to be back live and yet offer a virtual version for our audiences across the country.” says Tekki Lomnicki, artistic director of Tellin’ Tales Theatre. “Throw away any preconceived notions you have about disability because these performers demonstrate that though they are different in appearance and physical ability, they show how alike we all are when we share our stories.”

Stories were developed and directed in a six-week Zoom Master Class taught by Lomnicki. The disabilities of the performers include blindness, dwarfism, brain injury, mental illness, cerebral palsy and Muscular Sclerosis.

About Whitney Hill:
Hill is a specialist on accessibility with over a decade of experience in program management and communication. Her background in universal design and public accessibility combined with her personal background of identifying as someone with a disability give her a unique skillset to connect individuals with needed services, while also empowering them to advocate for themselves. Throughout her career, Whitney has aimed to ensure that public and institutional spaces are made readily accessible. She is also the founder and director of SPORK!, a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit and online platform that serves as a voice for the disabled community.

About Joe Margolis:
Margolis is a graduate of The University of Chicago (B.A. and M.A.). He worked for many years in housing, real estate management/development, and later, was a self-employed consultant in urban trend analysis., mostly for clientele overseas. He taught sociology part-time at a few different colleges and in the 1990's, was a partner in a small-business venture in post-communist Romania. He has been a disabled person since 2007 and since then, has focused on writing (and a little singing!) He volunteers for the TV program "Voice of the Disabled" shown on public access station CAN-TV in Chicago.

About Ben Saylor:
Saylor has grown up with Tellin’ Tales Theater, kicking off his acting career in 2005 at age 11. His first production was Six Stories Up on Capitol Hill. Since then Ben has been a student acting apprentice, student assistant director, and a mentor. He has also been in Porchlight Musical Theater’s production of Side Show as the Littlest Cossack. Ben graduated from DePaul University with a BA in Relational Communications and double minored in LGBTQ Studies and Creative Writing. He now works in the compliance department for Avant LLC and is the Co-founder of LPA’s Rainbow Committee, focusing on providing resources and acceptance for LGBTQAI+ little people within the organization.

The mission of Tellin' Tales Theatre is to shatter barriers between the disabled and non-disabled worlds through the transformative power of personal story. We bring together children and adults from both communities to share their stories in theatrically innovative productions and programs to promote awareness, understanding and acceptance.

Divercity is partially supported by grants from the Illinois Arts Council, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation.