'Tad' tells tales of urban life

To Carla Stillwell, Chicago–based playwright and director of "Tad in 5th City," the backdrop depicted in the urban drama is just as important as the main character's trials and tribulations.

"It's not the story of poverty or the story of oppression," she said. "For me, it's the story of a place, a living breathing neighborhood and one young man's experience in it."

Scheduled to run at Governors State University Center for Performing Arts on Jan. 21, "Tad" tells the tale of its title character, a 10-year-old making his way through day-to-day life in the 1970s in a gritty neighborhood on Chicago's west side.

"Tad" is presented at the Center by the Chicago–based Maat Production Association of Afrikan Centered Theatre. Founded in 1990 at the University of Illinois–Champaign, MPAACT's home base is the Greenhouse Theatre Center on Chicago's north side.

Stillwell, who is a 15–year MPAACT veteran, adapted "Tad" based on poems penned by Chicago writer Orron Kanyatta.

"The characters are all very flawed, but they're all trying to do the right thing," Stillwell said. "For me, ("Tad") highlights how complicated poverty is. We talk about the evils of society and these neighborhoods that are plagued with drugs and plagued with drug dealers and plagued with crime, but so much of that comes out of desperation, from a place of wanting to take care of the people you love."

First staged by NPAACT in 2010, "Tad" received accolades in the Chicago theater community as well as multiple award nominations form theater institutions such as the Joseph Jefferson Awards Committee and the Black Theatre Alliance.

Members of the theater company are scheduled to host a lecture regarding "Tad" at GSU's Engbretson Hall at 5 p.m. Jan. 19. Their next production, the mystery "Sweet Home," is scheduled to open at Greenhouse Theater Center on Feb. 6.

"Tad" is the second of three productions presented at GSU's Center for Performing Arts as part of their "One Night Only" series, which brings productions by Chicagoland theater companies to the Center's stage.

"It's always nice to tour as a theater company and share your work," Stillwell said. "People toil and slave to get these plays out of their mind and onto the stage, and it's always wonderful to have another opportunity for our artists work to be seen."

"Broadway Sings The Silk Road" from Chicago's Silk Road Theater Project is the final production in GSU's "Night" series and is scheduled to be staged April 28.

For more on Maat Production Association of Afrikan Centered Theatre, go to MPAACT.ORG.

Some adult language and situations in "Tad" may not be suitable for younger or sensitive viewers.