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.
Sunny Drake, with contributions from The CHILD-ish Collective
Jessica Greenberg
Brian Quirt
Julien Desrochers-Dioso, Elora Gerson, Ozzy Rae Horvath, Eponine Lee, Sumayya Iman Malik, Mia McGrinder, Sadie Kopyto Primack, Owen Ross
Donna-Michelle St. Bernard
Kusha Dadui, Bana Khoury, Rachel Mishenene, Eva Verity, J Wallace
Lisa Cooke Ravensbergen
Laura Barrett, Sunny Drake, Zoë Erwin-Longstaff, Kate Klein, Caleb Nault
Jimmy Yi, Sara Vickruck, Tasha Faye Evans, Tom Pickett, Craig Erickson, Maki Yi
Members of The Eastside Story Guild.
Lois Anderson
Heids MacDonald
Jethelo Cabilete
Brian Ball
Jonathan Kim
Mary Jane Coomber
by Yvonne Fabian
Chelsey Stuyt
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."
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”
"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”
"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”
“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”
“A little reminder that children are wise beyond their years… Earns (and deserves) its laughs and pulls on the heartstrings”
- Broadway World
Nightswimming, Necessary Angel Theatre Company, Theatre Passe Muraille, SummerWorks.
Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, and Toronto Arts Council.
National Arts Centre via The Collaborations, Studio 180 Theatre, Roseneath Theatre, Mammalian Diving Reflex, Crow’s Theatre and Toronto Fringe.