Child-Ish Live Show

Child-Ish Live Show

Adults speak children’s exact words about love, life and the world in this fresh verbatim work. Drawn from interviews with over 40 whip-smart and brutally honest children, a dynamite adult cast allows an adult audience to hear kids’ ideas and experiences anew. The results are surprising, hilarious and profound. CHILD-ish has also been a web series, a digital production, and an intergenerational process.

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Creative Team

Created and written by:

Sunny Drake, with contributions from The CHILD-ish Collective

Director of Child Engagement (script process):

Jessica Greenberg

Adult Dramaturg

Brian Quirt

Young Dramaturgs & Core Collaborators:

Julien Desrochers-Dioso, Elora Gerson, Ozzy Rae Horvath, Eponine Lee, Sumayya Iman Malik, Mia McGrinder, Sadie Kopyto Primack, Owen Ross

Script Consultant

Donna-Michelle St. Bernard

Cultural and children’s process consultants

Kusha Dadui, Bana Khoury, Rachel Mishenene, Eva Verity, J Wallace

Language and cultural consultant

Lisa Cooke Ravensbergen

Transcription

Laura Barrett, Sunny Drake, Zoë Erwin-Longstaff, Kate Klein, Caleb Nault

Vancouver Production Creative Team:

Featuring

Jimmy Yi, Sara Vickruck, Tasha Faye Evans, Tom Pickett, Craig Erickson, Maki Yi

Child Advisors

Members of The Eastside Story Guild.

Directed by

Lois Anderson

Assistant Direction by

Heids MacDonald

Stage Management by

Jethelo Cabilete

Set & Costume Design by

Brian Ball

Lighting Design by

Jonathan Kim

Sound Design by

Mary Jane Coomber

Poster Illustration

by Yvonne Fabian

Photography

Chelsey Stuyt

Information

TOUR DATES

Adults speak children’s exact words about love, life and the world in this fresh verbatim work. Drawn from interviews with over 40 whip-smart and brutally honest children, a dynamite adult cast allows an adult audience to hear kids’ ideas and experiences anew. The results are surprising, hilarious and profound.

CHILD-ish is a constellation of creative works: a web series, a live theatre show and an inter-generational process. Our CHILD-ish creative team is inter-generational aged 6-77.

Sunny speaks about the process of making CHILD-ish:

"The idea for CHILD-ish came about from a time I arrived to look after a 7-year-old, to find her on the couch, head in hands, balling her eyes out. I asked what was wrong and she shared her utter devastation that her classmate didn’t want to marry her. She was really going through it, until right between sobs she started doing acrobatics on the couch and in literally only minutes, she was over it! I’ve wasted years of my life getting over heartbreak! I realized I could do with a crash course from children. And then I started to wonder what else adults could learn from listening to little ones?

I got curious how our listening and learning might shift if we had adult actors speaking children's exact words - not pretending to be kids - but rather trying on children's words, as adults."

Awards

“Outstanding Ensemble” NOW Magazine 2019 (Canada)

Press

From one of Vancouver’s most seasoned and respected theatre reviewers, Colin Thomas:

 “An effervescent combination of innocence, insight, and sophistication… I love this show, everything about it”
 “Had me rolling, laughing harder than I have in months”
 “The twists in Drake’s script keep refreshing the mind and the spirit”

 ColinThomas, Fresh Sheet

"Captivating”
“A masterful rendition of children’s perspectives skillfully brought to life by adult actors”
“A poignant reminder of the boundless joy and innate wisdom found in embracing our inner child”

Filled Up Cup

 

"Drake has created a remarkably hilarious stage experience thanks to its direct transcription from the mouths of kids"
 “Child-ish is deceptively simple but highly effective”

RickChung Moves

 “A beautiful and awe-inspiring production unlike any other”
 “I was mesmerized listening to the deep and honest advice and what they most want the adults in their lives to know”
 “I laughed, I teared up a bit, and then I left feeling immensely hopeful for the future”

Family Fun Vancouver

“A little reminder that children are wise beyond their years… Earns (and deserves) its laughs and pulls on the heartstrings” 

- Broadway World

Other Info

Script development partners

Nightswimming, Necessary Angel Theatre Company, Theatre Passe Muraille, SummerWorks.

Key script funding partners

Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, and Toronto Arts Council.

Other financial support

National Arts Centre via The Collaborations, Studio 180 Theatre, Roseneath Theatre, Mammalian Diving Reflex, Crow’s Theatre and Toronto Fringe.

Support

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