Albany Park Theater Project

Program Description

Albany Park Theater Project is a multiethnic, youth theater ensemble that inspires people to envision a more just and beautiful world.

• APTP's teen ensemble creates original theater based on the life experiences of people whose stories might otherwise go untold: urban teens, immigrants, and working-class Americans.
• APTP creates a space where less advantaged teenagers engage critically and creatively with the world as artists, thereby embarking on purposeful lives as adventurous dreamers and accomplished achievers.
• APTP humanizes issues that impact real people but too often get discussed as abstract concepts.
• APTP enriches the cultural vitality and quality of life in the neighborhood of Albany Park and in Chicago

To support its teen artists, APTP established a complement of youth development programs. Teens receive extensive, ongoing mentoring from adult staff members on all aspects of their lives. APTP's tutoring program offers group and individual tutoring in the full complement of high school subjects. APTP's free college preparation and placement program provides comprehensive guidance to teens who will be the first college students in their families. College is promoted and prepared for from the time teens arrive at APTP. As freshmen in high school, teens are paired with APTP alumni mentors currently in college. Teens travel with APTP on group college tours to visit Midwest colleges. Beginning in the spring of junior year, students have individual, weekly meetings with an APTP staff member. Staff members guide students as they define what they want from a college, research prospective colleges, complete the application and financial aid process, and write personal statements and submit application materials. Since the inception of the college program in 2000, APTP ensemble members have posted a 72% better high school graduation rate, a 42% higher college matriculation rate, and a 600% higher college 6-year graduation rate than the average students in Chicago's public schools. APTP alumni also have an 80% lower unemployment rate than the Chicago average.

Demographics

Race & Ethnicity

• White: 38%
• Asian or Pacific Islander: 50%
• African American: 12%

Education Level and
Number of Students

• High School: 30
• Middle School: 10
• Elementary School: 0
• Post-secondary: 0
• Non-traditional: 0

Populations Served

• Academically At-risk
• Academically High-performing
• ESL Students
• Undocumented Students (15)

First-Generation

• More than 75%

Representative
Colleges Attended
by Alumni

• Beloit College
• Carleton College
• Cornell College
• Denison University
• Earlham College
• Illinois Institute of Technology
• Middlebury College
• North Park University
• Northeastern Illinois University
• Northwestern University
• Pitzer College
• Pomona College
• Ripon College
• Smith College
• Swarthmore College
• The College of Wooster
• University of California-Santa Cruz
• Virginia Union University

Matriculation & Completion

• 4-yr College Matriculation: 90%
• 4-yr College Graduation: 70%