Tellin' Tales Theatre presents Divercity: Refocusing Disability

Tellin’ Tales Theatre presents Divercity: Refocusing Disability, performing live– June 9-11, 2023 at the Greenhouse Theater, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago. Friday and Saturday performances are at 8 pm, and Sunday at 3 pm. The Sunday matinee will include sign language interpretation, audio description and an after show talk back. Tickets are $20 for General Admission and $15 for Students/Disabled. Go to Greenhousetheater.org or call 773-404-7336.

Stories were developed and directed in a seven-week Master Class taught by Tellin' Tales Theatre Artistic Director Tekki Lomnicki, assisted by Ben Saylor. Stories include a day in the adventurous life of a wheelchair user, the evils of masks for a hard-of-hearing pregnant mother, coming out as gay with a disability and more.

The Storytellers include writers, actors and advocates with disabilities from Chicago, Oak Park, Cicero and Tennessee.
From Chicago:
Joel 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 from overseas. 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.

Janet Anne. has been actively gay since 11, on a mission to normalize Lesbianism. Born and raised in Chicago. She previously was in Tellin’ Tales Theatre’s Hands Up! Police production.

Ben Saylor has grown up with Tellin’ Tales Theatre, kicking off his acting career in 2005 at age 11. 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.

Marie McGee was raised in L.A. and Chicago and now lives in Cordova, Tennessee. Marie's professional career has evolved from being an accountant, business manager, human resources director, insurance agent and now an elementary teacher. Her educational achievements include a bachelor’s degree in business administration, a master’s degree in public administration and a master’s degree in teaching.

From Cicero:
Hugo Trevino is a first generation Mexican American who works at UIC, making sure students with disabilities have equal access to higher education and can achieve their full potential. As an activist, he has advocated for the rights of Latinxs, LGBQTIA, people with disabilities & other marginalized communities. He joined Divercity, in hopes to share a part of his life dealing with Ableism and the daily life that people with disabilities have to endure. He has a B.A. from University of Illinois at Champaign Urbana and a Master of Education in International Higher Education from Loyola University Chicago.

From Oak Park:
Mark Peloquin, began his career in Chicago working in photography and design. Today Mark works for a holistic chiropractor care company based out of Oak Brook. Mark first became actively involved with Tellin’ Tales Theatre in 2002 with the production of Six Stories Upside Down.

Kruti Parikh Shah, PharmD, is a Clinical Operations Pharmacist at RUSH University Medical Center, Chicago. She is a Disability Lead fellow, a Public Voice Fellow with the OpEd Project, and a steering committee member of the Disabilities Employee Resource Group (DERG) at RUSH. Being a woman of color and having a disability of hearing loss, she is passionate about Disability, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in healthcare.

“Throw away any preconceived notions you have about disability because these performers demonstrate that whether their disability is visible or hidden, they show how alike we all are when we share our stories,” says Artistic Director Tekki Lomnicki.

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, the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation and the Seabury Foundation.