About Face Theatre
About Face Theatre
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Since the 1990s, AFT has created sophisticated theatre centering LGBTQ+ lives and talent.
About Face Theatre was founded in 1995 by Eric Rosen and Kyle Hall. In his dissertation on AFT, Rosen describes AFT as an organization set up to produce “artistically challenging and innovative” theatre that centered gay and lesbian lives. AFT saw itself as bringing together Chicago’s age-old “Little Theatre” or “Off-Loop” theatre tradition with the issues most important to the gay and lesbian community.
The "Little Theater Movement" in the early 20th century diversified theater in Chicago, taking it outside for-profit productions staged for elites. It led to more experimental and politically informed styles, as well as theater productions staged for, and by, neighborhood communities. Chicago's Hull House Theater emerged during this era as the country's first community theater. Shown here is a playbill of a 1924 production staged in the Theater, titled "The Mob." Source: Newberry Library Special Collections
One of About Face’s early initiatives was its youth theatre project, which then grew into About Face Youth Theatre, implementing various programs for lesbian and gay youth, helping them build confidence, cultivate talent and self-expression, find opportunities to succeed, and create awareness about the issues they face in schools and families. AFYT’s The Home Project was a production centering the issues of queer and trans homeless youth, collaboratively scripted by the youth ensemble of AFYT and homeless youth, community workers, and activists.
This promotional video, made on the occasion of About Face Youth Theatre's 20th anniversary in 2019, sums up the history, ethos, and activities of AFYT. Credit: AboutFaceChicago YouTube channel.
Today, AFT remains one of the few off-loop theatre companies that have survived this long, and much of this longevity can be attributed to a willingness to adapt. Though AFT’s early productions centered white gay experiences, it is today a company that supports talent across the spectrum of queer and trans identities, with a willingness to center the experiences of racialized and working-class members of the LGBTQ+ community, a commitment that reflects in their current leadership.
A summary of AFYT's statistics in 2018-19 reports that Youth Ensemble participants comprise 41% gender nonconforming people and 50% people of color.
Source: About Face Theatre Education Impact Report 2018-19. Courtesy: Megan Carney.
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