PlayMakers Laboratory Story Archive
Celebration of Authors is back in 2026; Stay Tuned for More!
Silent Auction! Games! Food + Drinks! Open Bar for adult guests! 360 Photo Booth! And of course, LIVE performances of stories written by our students for the 2024/25 School Year!
Attire: Fancy Schmancy where you can come Fancy – dressed to the nines in your best attire. Or you can come Schmancy – with a silly hat or funny outfit that expresses YOU!
You can bid on our amazing Silent Auction Prizes at the event, or remotely from anywhere! Silent Auction items include: A Trip to Mexico with Vidanta Resorts, A Sailing Excursion, An At-Home Dungeons & Dragons Session, Dining Packages, Sports Tickets, Theatre Tickets, and MORE! Stay tuned for a preview and get those bids ready!
This is the most affordable & most FUN Gala in town!
Tickets include food, drinks, a show, and activities for all ages!
Adult Regular Priced Tickets —$75
Youth Regular Price Tickets, ages 4 to 15 —$50
Children 3 years of age and under can attend for FREE
Plus we will present the Annual Storyteller of the Year Award to author,
and PlayMaker alumni, Mary Winn Heider!
Mary Winn Heider is the author of over 30 books for kids, including THE LOSERS AT THE CENTER OF THE GALAXY, THE UNICORNS WHO SAVED CHRISTMAS, and THE STUPENDOUS SWITCHEROO series, which she co-created with Chad Sell. Mary Winn’s very first novel, THE MORTIFICATION OF FOVEA MUNSON, was based on her time working in a real life cadaver lab, and now that it’s a musical. In a School Library Journal column a few years ago, Betsy Bird wrote, “In an era of information overload, Mary Winn Heider is the author who will lead us through the pandemonium into the light.” Mary Winn’s books have been on state lists, appeared on Bank Street Best Books, received Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection status, been long-listed for the Edgar Award, and landed on Indies Introduce and Indie Next lists.But before all of that, Mary Winn was a company member with Playmakers Lab, where she spent a decade pretending to be a chicken, an astronaut, and a princess, and sometimes, all three at once.
Can’t attend our party? We’ll miss you! Consider donating to support arts education in Chicago. Thank you!
This event is a fundraiser to support PML’s outstanding creative writing programming in partnership with Chicago Public Schools. 100% of the tickets proceeds will support PML classes! For 28 years PlayMakers Laboratory has served Chicago Public School students by providing a creative writing residency program aimed primarily at elementary schools. Our company of over 60 teaching artists utilize creative drama and storytelling to promote literacy and self esteem during our in-school residencies and park district programming. Each year, our programs serve more than 4,000 young people across Chicago. In our 6 week writing residencies, a whopping 88% of students improve writing scores by at least one level over the course of our residencies. Plus, 100% of classroom teachers report that our program supports their student’s writing and improves confidence and self-esteem.
The Chicago Community Trust,
Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events,
The Crown Family Philanthropies,
The Field Foundation,
The Mardi Gras Fund,
The Paul M. Angell Foundation,
The Polk Bros Foundation,
The Siragusa Family Foundation,
And generous Individuals like you!
By Michael C., Washington School
That's Weird, Grandma
I won a prize for being the best looking human. And all the girls will want eccept for some girls in my class who don’t like nothing!
“(My speech is)” Thank you everybody for saying I’m the best looking human Ever even tho it is true.
I’m not trying to brag but I I I I’m going to cry can someone get me a tissue please. Thank you and good bye.
By Miranda R., 4th Grade, Stockton Elementary
Abraham Lincln woce up one day and he went to eat a Abraham Lincln eat all day caféa So his body gardes take him and he got there and he ran write in and he got the presedental both but someone else was sitting there but it was a gost and no one could see him so Abranam Lincln sat on him then Abraham Lincln felt some one push him off of the presedental both and he fell and every one helped him up and they looked around and they did not see any one so he sat back down on the gost and the gost pushed him the the side and Abraham Lincln looked all over he did not see anyone so he was finished and he went home and went to slepp.
By Brian, Meadowbrook School
That's Weird, Grandma
I am a geek!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The End
By Anthony G., 4th Grade, Trumbull
Dialogues
That's Weird, Grandma
Characters: Jamie, Joe (Guards), Jerry, Garry (Prisoners, Brothers)
Setting: Prison
Joe: We should stick around in the prison.
Jamie: Okay.
Jerry: We should break out of prison.
Garry: Why we will get arrested.
Jerry: No because I got the key and we will be sneaky
Joe: Somebody broke out let’s go fast
Jamie: Call back up just in case they get violence
Jerry: Run fast they are coming
Garry: Are you sure about this because this is really bad
Joe: I see them let’s go fast
Jerry: They are catching up
Jamie: I got them lets go
Joe: lets put them back in jail
Garry: I told you we will go back in jail
Jerry: So at least we tried
Joe: No more getting out of jail
Jamie: Yeah no more.
The End
By Dejah D. , Tuley Park Words @ Play Program
Poems
That's Weird, Grandma
I hate spiders
Because they look so hairy
Gross
And they’re all big
And another reason is Because they always crawl all of the walls
Feeling like they’re going to fall on your head
Gross and scary
And then
When I was in the hospital
And my friend’s brother had got bitten by one
He had a big hole in his hand
Gross
My God we were in camp
And we seen spiders
I was like
AhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAh
Nasty gross
I was scared to take down the tents
And they are still God’s creatures
But nothing we change
They still are disgusting creatures
By Pablo S. , 4th Grade, Cleveland
That's Weird, Grandma
Once there were people that lived in boston there names were Chris brown and Shak, they had a car that was cool and red. They were very bad with stuff they threw all the stuff in the floor, they were bad boys. Once they threw a cup made of gold then they ran away, they talk to each other and said let’s go pay for the cup we threw in the floor, so they said sorry and then pay a lot of money, but still they were bad boys. The End.
By Tyjame D, 4th Grade, Dewey
Holidays
Valentine's Day
That's Weird, Grandma
Today is Valentines Day, Oh it is not a good day. Da last thing I want is to be mad. A time when I was so mad is today. Yesterday was a good day today is not. I will be happy again, just not today. Ah, it’s a good day just not for me. Me and my cousins had fun yesterday, it’s just not happening today. Sometimes I feel happy and mad and today is a mad day. Oh I am not in a good mood. Me and myself is so mad I don’t know what to do. A time when I was really really mad is today. Da thing I’m mad about is something good.
By Anita M., 4th Grade, Little Village
Arguments
That's Weird, Grandma
I believe that our city should have less graffiti. My first reason is because in our school there
is a person that paints the walls. His name is Mark but gangs always write their name of
their gangs. The second reason is that there’s a store that had a picture of a mom and son
but then the next day it was ruined. The person who painted it was depressed. I felt really
sad. The third reason is that when they write graffiti they have to paint it again and they’re
wasting a lot of money. I would implement this change by giving every other children a wall
to draw wherever they have in their minds. In conclusion I believe there should be less
graffiti. The End.
By Eden B., Loyola Park
Songs
That's Weird, Grandma
Gracie lives in a castle. She is a very bad lady. SHE KICKS CATS AND BITES DOG. Oh she is a vvvvvvvveeeeeeeerrrrrrryyy bad lady.
By Shondale, Jaliyah, Jocelyne, Dejannie, Shunta, Messiah, Dierra, and Juwuan, Kohn Elementary
Podcasts
Once upon a time, there was a man having tea with his mother, and his brother told him his wife was missing. He started freaking out and he left his mother and brother and went to look for his wife in the desert. He didn’t know it was a trap. She was a secret agent who was tricking him with a trap. He followed the trail, but his wife wasn’t there. It turns out, he had a lot of money and gold, and she was trying to hill him for the money. Once he fell over her trap, he saw his wife on a camel. She tried to run away, but he followed her, but it was too hot, so he fell down. She came back, took the man’s money and moved to New York and gave herself the name Shunta. And she lived happily ever after after with all that money in her pocket. But her husband was sad that he got robbed.