Elmhurst Native Tekki Lomnicki Hits a Milestone with Theatre Company

Tekki Lomnicki, a native of Elmhurst, a York High School Duke of Distinction, and co-founder/ artistic director of Tellin' Tales Theatre (TTT) is celebrating a milestone. It's the 25th year that Tellin' Tales Theatre has produced a Six Stories Up original show, written and performed by six middle school students and their six theatre mentors - with music added - directed by Lomnicki. This year's show is Six Stories Up in Discovery which runs weekends November 4-13 at Filament Theatre, 4041 N. Milwaukee. Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students, available at www.tellintales.org. The August 6 show will follow with a reception celebrating the 25th anniversary. The reception/show ticket is $100.

The story: If one of six middle school students doesn't win the science fair their beloved school will close. This musical exploration takes the audience through the exciting, mysterious world of mad scientists, extra-terrestrials and wayward sound waves.

About the Mentoring Program
Six Stories Up is an annual mentoring program developed by Tellin' Tales Theatre where middle school children and their mentors write and star in a full-length play with the theme changing every year. In August, storytellers were paired with middle school students with and without disabilities. Each team took on a different aspect of science and was given the mission to bring it to life while weaving in personal stories and insights. In mid-September, Artistic Director Tekki Lomnicki and Stephen Donart drafted a final script, linking the six vignettes together into a cohesive final script; music and lyrics were added as well. All participants will perform Six Stories up in Discovery under the direction of Lomnicki, assisted by Sue Nunamaker and Dominika Tamley.

About Tellin' Tales Theatre and 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.

Artistic Director Tekki Lomnicki led storytelling programs for Gallery 37 and After School Matters for over a decade. The idea for the initial Six Stories Up came from her work with these programs, which included students with and without disabilities. Lomnicki, herself a person with a disability, took the process a step further to include adult mentors with disabilities.

Six Stories Up in Discovery is a result of this mix, and strives to remove all barriers between artists, including race, ethnicity, gender, age and ability.

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