Teens explore the meaning of home in Albany Park Theater Project’s ‘Ofrenda’

For the critically acclaimed 2016 show “Learning Curve,” the multiethnic youth ensemble Albany Park Theater Project stepped outside its usual boundaries and partnered with Brooklyn-based Third Rail Project to create a stunning theater piece, which took place over three floors of a former school building and focused on the various aspects and challenges of education facing both students and teachers.

That sense of challenge continues with APTP’s newest creation “Ofrenda,” which finds the company once again stepping into new territory, namely working with an outside playwright for the first time. While the impetus of the piece began in the usual way — workshops with APTP teens who examine their own stories and those of neighborhood residents they interview — it was playwright Isaac Gomez who worked with the teens to mold all the pieces into a whole.

“At APTP, we’re true believers that if we’re not pushing ourselves and challenging ourselves and trying new things then we’re not able to grow,” says Stephanie Paul, who co-directs “Ofrenda” with Maggie Popadiak. “Working with Isaac pushed us in new directions and allowed us to learn more about the way in which we can tell stories and evolve our process.”

The topics APTP tackles are never easy — poverty, immigration, racism, housing, domestic violence, food policy, education — yet the teens’ insights are always meaningful and refreshing.

“Ofrenda” features 33 young performers, ranging in age from 13 to 18, in a series of vignettes about the meaning of home in this time of social, political and personal upheaval.

The APTP youth, all of who have a connection to the ethnically diverse Albany park community, were already well into the development process when Gomez came on board late last year. He admits he had to play catch up.

“I had never written a play that fast before,” he says with a laugh, adding, “But I loved it; it rejuvenated my spirit in a way nothing has before.”

The “Ofrenda” vignettes are wide-ranging — a young Ecuadoran girl dreams of crossing the border in search of her father, a Syrian teen teaches herself English as the civil war creeps closer, a university student tells no one of her undocumented status, a grandmother vows to fight a deportation order.

Dayana Soto who plays the Ecuadoran girl among other roles loves the storytelling aspect of the work she’s participated in over the past four years at APTP.

“I love going out into the community and interviewing regular people who have interesting stories,” says Soto, a 17-year-old high school junior. “You find out so much more about the community in which you live and how much power these voices have.”

From the start, Gomez knew a key ingredient to a successful play was collaboration with the ensemble and its two directors. He focused on what images resonated, what images left them excited, and he created worlds around those ideas. Yet he discovered his written dialogue wasn’t a sure bet.

“There were moments in the play where I’d written entire exchanges between people, but instead one of my collaborators would choreograph a three-minute movement piece,” Gomez recalls. “What I had written in 10 pages of text suddenly became so much more effective.”

Paul says she is consistently amazed by the “power, strength and honesty” of the young people she is working with.

“It’s thrilling time and time again to work with young people who recognize their power and recognize their ability to look outside themselves and look out into the world and question power,” Paul says. “We’re not working to help facilitate the growth of young people who are just subservient to the world. There’s nothing like having a front row seat to witness the growth and the claiming of power of a young person.”

When asked about what excites her about being part of creating and performing this new show, Soto thinks back to “Learning Curves” to formulate her answer.

“That show was a so much fun and a whole new experience. But this show is about home and to perform it back in our own home is so meaningful. To be able to invite people to come and see our work and to welcome them into our home feels perfect.”

Mary Houlihan is a local freelance writer.