Green Scene Chicago

With Green Scene Chicago programming I teach students how to plant and tend vegetable beds that, upon fruition, host two kinds of production: crops and theater. I recruit youth and elders to grow food and unearth their artistic impulses through writing, story telling, theater, music and dance. While exploring healthy earth practices, healthy eating, and healthy self-expression in the garden, these teams create performances to share with their community. In June 2013, I stewarded the transformation of abandoned urban land into the Winthrop Harmony Arts Garden: a community garden, classroom, and permanent home for Green Scene Chicago’s cross-pollination of garden education and theater performance. Currently 8 community based organizations, 5 neighborhood families, and a yearly team of 15 teenage apprentices garden on the site.  Winthrop Harmony Arts Garden has hosted these three free events:  "Garden Groove," a garden and dance summer camp, "Welcoming the Moon Harvest Festival," and "Project Tap Root," a weekly series of garden education workshops with performances of dance, spoken word, rap and theater performed by local youth.