When the COVID-19 lockdown first hit in March, a lot of companies whose mission focused on theater for young audiences found their digital shelves mostly bare. But they quickly ramped up their offerings with short films, workshops, and other activities designed to give kids and their families a break from the monotony of screen time routines.

New stories, averaging 12 to 15 minutes in length, are added weekly every Sunday at 6 PM CST, and they can all be found on the YouTube channel for Northwestern’s Wirtz Center. But Kelso knew that there was more to be done. And now, thanks to a commission from the National Theatre in Washington D.C., Imagine U is part of the National’s Saturday Morning Live! programming for young audiences, creating three original episodes on the theme of Life Now. 

Another aspect of creating balance in the pieces, says Foreman, is deciding how directly to confront current issues. “One of the things we were discussing a while ago was, ‘Do we stray away from talking specifically about COVID in some way?’ And we realized we kind of can’t do that, this is something that is everyone’s experience right now in some way, and while that differs from person to person—and we emphasize that in some of the themes and episodes—everyone has had potentially some kind of experience with a COVID birthday, whether it be their own or a family member’s or something like that. So we touch on birthdays and we touch on how to celebrate while being so apart.”

It’s a moving piece, rendered even more poignant by the simplicity of the paper cut-outs utilized to tell the story. It’s also the first piece in CCT’s new Springboard project, designed to foster work for theater for young audiences by diverse local writers. 

Pre-pandemic, Daigle notes that she was teaching a devised theater class with CCT at Richardson Middle School on the south side, helping the students create new stories out of folklore. Online, she’s taught costume design, working out for actors (she is also a cycling instructor), and an action adventure class for younger students, where they devised their own story and created their own costumes. 

It’s also about keeping the love of theater alive. “We don’t want to lose a generation,” says Russell.  v