WHAT
Project US is an original, participatory performance that seeks to initiate conversations around young people's sexual health. Devised in partnership with Chicago youth and non-profit health organizations, the piece combines performance, improvisation and participatory actions to actively engage audiences in a dialogue about their lives.
WHO
Alison Lehner, Nicole Ripley and Nikki Zaleski are NU grads who currently work as artists, educators and activists in Chicago. We spent the past year developing this project through a series of workshops and interviews with youth, adult allies and peers. Sisters Empowering Sisters (SES), the social justice and leadership youth group of the Chicago Girls’ Coalition, partnered with us on the initial planning for the project and will collaborate again with us on the tour. SES will facilitate youth-led sexual health trainings to couple with the Project US performance. We also partnered with the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health (ICAH), who serves as fiscal sponsor to the project.
WHY
We believe in the power of performance as a site for critical resistance and change. We see a need for more youth-focused discussion around sexual health and want to make those conversations accessible through performance.
WHEN
Project us will tour January-June. Contact Nikki at nikki.zaleski@gmail.com to schedule a performance.
