Northwestern University theater major Laura Fajardo-Riascos warms up her voice as her classmate, Kennedy Naseem, strums on a ukulele. The duo is sitting in a colorful playroom on the 17th floor of Lurie Children’s Hospital in Streeterville.
They’re here to put on an interactive show for the kids in this unit, but whether they’ll have an audience all depends on how the young patients are feeling this afternoon in May.
Fajardo-Riascos and Naseem are among 10 students enrolled in a Northwestern class this spring that is bringing playful, small-scale theater to an unlikely setting: Chicago’s pediatric hospitals. The show, “Let’s Go Camping!,” was developed in part by their professor, Elizabeth Brendel Horn, while she was still working in Florida. Now, in her first year at Northwestern, she is bringing the program to Chicago.
The performance features two actors, a giant cardboard backpack full of props and a whole lot of imagination. It can be done for an audience as small as one, beside a child’s hospital bed, or for a larger group in a lobby or playroom like this one.
“The way I see it is that we’re bending theater, right?” Brendel Horn said. “We’re saying theater can exist in a lot of different spaces. And in this setting, the space is a child’s hospital room.”
Back in the Lurie playroom, 4-year-old Gino rolls in, riding on an IV stand as his grandma pushes him down the hall. They come to this space every afternoon when the young Indiana boy has energy. And on this day, they encounter Fajardo-Riascos, already in character as “Happy Camper,” a cheery outdoor explorer with a forest green hat and a sash full of badges.
“Hi, friend,” Fajardo-Riascos says. “What’s your name?”
Gino is shy and sits on his grandma’s lap as he quietly tells the performers both his name and the name of his stuffed black-and-brown dog — Peanut Buttercup — that he brought with him. Then, the actors seamlessly dive into their show.
Naseem starts playing the ukulele, in character as a friendly raccoon named Fuzzy, and Fajardo-Riascos sings, “We’re so happy to meet you, Gino,” and, “We’re so happy to meet you, Peanut Buttercup.”
Today, their audience is just Gino and his grandma. The actors quickly adapt, matching his energy level by crouching to the ground and speaking more softly than they would to a larger group.
At the same time, another pair of their Northwestern classmates is performing the same show, five levels down, in the hospital’s Panda Cares Center of Hope, which brings programming to both patients and their young siblings. That performance is being broadcast to patient rooms throughout Lurie on an internal TV channel.
Mara Smith, the Center’s activity coordinator, said days like this help bridge the gaps for patients between their lives in the hospital and the outside world.
“One of our big goals is normalization and play, so when outside groups get to come in, it makes it feel sort of normal that people are here, because obviously when they’re not in the hospital, they’re interacting with groups like this,” Smith said. “Having special people in to do special events is good for the families and good for us.”
Back upstairs, Gino has come out of his shell a bit, smiling as the actors guide him through an adventure.
His grandma, Mary Frakes, said activities like this help to break up long, monotonous afternoons for her grandson, who is undergoing treatment for Neuroblastoma, a cancer that develops in a child’s nervous system.
These next 30 minutes are all about envisioning a world beyond the hospital’s walls, far away, in the great outdoors. The performances provide young patients a chance for a playful, imaginative escape. But it is also exposing theater students to a wider idea of what they can do with their degrees.
Fajardo-Riascos said classes like this one have totally changed her plans. She came into college thinking she’d want to be an actor on screen. Now, as she prepares for graduation, she is entirely focused on theater for young audiences.
“I’ve just realized that there’s so much more that you can do with performance and acting and the art of theater,” Fajardo-Riascos said. “It isn’t just working at massive regional theaters, putting on Broadway-level plays with huge budgets. So, I’m leaving Northwestern with the idea of doing things that I love in a way that impacts people, no matter the scale.”
Before it’s time to go, Fajardo-Riascos sings one more song. As she does, Gino’s grandmother, Frakes, rocks her young grandson back and forth.
“There are sunny days and stormy days, and others in between, but rainbows have a special way of brightening the darkest days,” Fajardo-Riascos sings sweetly. “There are highs and there are lows every single day. After all, every rainbow needs a little rain.”
As the show ends, Frakes thanks the cast, saying they’ve helped Gino through the tough afternoon stretch when his medicine kicks in. “It’s just a nice diversion from his day,” Frakes said. “Anything like this, I so appreciate.”
Gino is tired and ready to head out. So, the actors send him off with some music, strumming the ukulele as Frakes rolls him back toward his room. “Bye, Gino!” Naseem calls out.
The actors smile at one another, confident they’ve done their jobs spreading a little joy.
Courtney Kueppers is an arts and culture reporter at WBEZ.