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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | ||||||
| 3 | Representatives are pleased to honor the Child's Play Touring | ||||||
| 4 | Theatre for their outstanding work with the children of the | ||||||
| 5 | City of Chicago, the State of Illinois, and throughout the | ||||||
| 6 | nation; and
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| 7 | WHEREAS, Based in Chicago, the Child's Play Touring Theatre | ||||||
| 8 | is the premiere theatre company in the United States dedicated | ||||||
| 9 | exclusively to performing works written by children; Child's | ||||||
| 10 | Play motivates elementary school students to read and write | ||||||
| 11 | through developing and staging original plays based on | ||||||
| 12 | children's poems, stories, and songs; and | ||||||
| 13 | WHEREAS, Child's Play was founded by Victor and June | ||||||
| 14 | Podagrosi in 1978 while Victor was teaching theatre at Parkland | ||||||
| 15 | College in Champaign; when asked to stage a performance of | ||||||
| 16 | children's writings for a Young Author's awards ceremony, | ||||||
| 17 | Victor was delighted with the sophistication and storytelling | ||||||
| 18 | abilities he discovered in children's writing; believing they | ||||||
| 19 | had identified a unique form of educational theatre, the | ||||||
| 20 | Podagrosis formed the Child's Play Touring Theatre and began | ||||||
| 21 | traveling to rural schools in east central Illinois; and | ||||||
| 22 | WHEREAS, The goal of Child's Play is to help children | ||||||
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| 1 | understand the value and significance that writing and reading | ||||||
| 2 | has on their lives; its performances and workshops offer a | ||||||
| 3 | powerful teaching tool that strengthens and enhances the | ||||||
| 4 | teaching and learning process; combining the important, | ||||||
| 5 | imaginative writings of children with the craftsmanship of | ||||||
| 6 | professional theater artists and educators, it creates a unique | ||||||
| 7 | stage where children's voices can be heard, examined, and | ||||||
| 8 | treasured; it also strives to elevate the status of theatre for | ||||||
| 9 | young people by providing full time employment with benefits to | ||||||
| 10 | theatre artists; it also performs over 400 shows and workshops | ||||||
| 11 | a year; and
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| 12 | WHEREAS, Child's Play Touring Theatre believes in the | ||||||
| 13 | importance of contributing to the Chicago community; its | ||||||
| 14 | principal outreach program, the Chicago Young Writers Project, | ||||||
| 15 | aims to motivate Chicago public school students to write, as | ||||||
| 16 | well as provide teachers with drama-based methods for writing | ||||||
| 17 | instruction; and
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| 18 | WHEREAS, With the passing of Victor Podagrosi, his wife | ||||||
| 19 | took over the direction of Child's Play and established the | ||||||
| 20 | Victor Award to honor individuals and organizations who have | ||||||
| 21 | demonstrated outstanding commitment, generosity, and/or | ||||||
| 22 | service to Child's Play; and | ||||||
| 23 | WHEREAS, Child's Play was honored with an Emmy Award for | ||||||
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| 1 | its contribution to the production of two child-focused Public | ||||||
| 2 | Service Announcements, "Educate Us" and "If I Were President"; | ||||||
| 3 | therefore, be it
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| 4 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
| 5 | NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | ||||||
| 6 | honor the Child's Play Touring Theatre for its outstanding | ||||||
| 7 | work, we thank the group for its dedication to the children of | ||||||
| 8 | the State of Illinois and the nation, and we wish the group | ||||||
| 9 | continued success in its future endeavors; and be it further
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| 10 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy be presented to June | ||||||
| 11 | Podagrosi as a symbol of our esteem and respect.
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