Two Oak Park Residents Featured June 9-11 at Greenhouse Theater

Oak Park Residents Mark Peloquin and Kruti Parikh Shah are among seven cast members sharing their stories in 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 Artistic Director Tekki Lomnicki, assisted by Ben Saylor. All of the performers are writers, actors and advocates with disabilities, from Chicago, Oak Park, Cicero and Tennessee. They are Janet Anne., Joel Margolis, Marie McGee, Mark Peloquin, Ben Saylor, Kruti Shah and Hugo Trevino. 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.

About Mark Peloquin and Kruti Parikh Shah:

Mark Peloquin is a multi-dimensional adventurer with a knack for finding himself in unexpected places. Born and raised in southeastern Massachusetts, he began his career in Chicago working in photography and design. Today Peloquin 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. Peloquin dedicates this performance to his cherished friend Sarah Paweni who performed with him in that 2002 production. "Sarah will be missed, she will be cherished, but she will never be forgotten," he said.

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. During the pandemic, when medical masks became a barrier to lipreading, she advocated for clear masks to improve access to communication. Being a woman of color and having a disability of hearing loss, she is passionate about Disability, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in healthcare.

She is an Indo-Canadian American, whose life has spanned in three different countries. She was raised by a single mom, who has inspired her to live a life filled with courage, confidence and gratitude. She is a mom of two, and enjoys biking, hiking and traveling with her husband and kids.

“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 Tekki Lomnicki, Artistic Director of Tellin’ Tales Theatre.

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.