Tickets are On Sale for CELEBRATION OF AUTHORS 2026 on June 27!

A banner that reads, Celebration of Authors. Saturday June 27.

CELEBRATION OF AUTHORS 2026!

SATURDAY, JUNE 27 from 12:30PM – 3:30PM CDT

At The NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MEXICAN ART

Sponsored by WINTRUST BANK & FORWARD SPACE

    It’s both our annual gala AND a family-friendly, interactive festival!
Buy Tickets Now!

 

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 2025/26 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!

EARLY BIRD Adult Tickets (available through 5/31)—$50
EARLY BIRD Youth Tickets, ages 4 to 15 (available through 5/31)—$35
Adult Regular Tickets —$75
Youth Regular Tickets, ages 4 to 15 —$50
Children 3 years of age and under can attend for FREE

Because PlayMakers’ students rock, they typically go on to do exciting things. Every year, we use our banquet to honor a special alum. This year’s Annual Storyteller of the Year Award goes to Isabella Wilhemy Sanchez. Isabella is a special effects make up designer, and former PlayMakers Laboratory student!!!


Isabella Wilhelmy Sanchez has been in the performing arts ever since she was a student at Play Makers Laboratory. She graduated as a theater major from Lincoln Park High School and has been working in the Chicago Indie film scene working on shorts like The Crossing 2020, Perfectly Sane 2025, Wild Party 2025 and I Only Sleep When The Room Is Pitch Black 2025. Isabella has worked under Chicago based makeup artist Anthony Kosar learning more of the makeup profession and learning skills like laying beards and applying prosthetics to create characters/monsters. Isabella’s passion for story telling was nurtured by the teaching artists at PML and is thrilled to join us at the Celebration of Authors gala to share more of her journey, and to celebrate creatives of all ages in Chicago.

Buy Tickets Now!


Can’t attend our party? We’ll miss you! Consider donating to support arts education in Chicago. Thank you!

Additional Information:

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 29 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 utilizes 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.

Celebration of Authors is sponsored in part by

Wintrust Bank
wintrust1
Forward Space
forwardspace

PlayMakers Laboratory is sponsored in part by

The Chicago Community Trust,
Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events,
The Crown Family Philanthropies,
The Field Foundation,
The Illinois Arts Council
The Mardi Gras Fund,
The Paul M. Angell Foundation,
The Polk Bros Foundation,
The Siragusa Family Foundation,
And generous Individuals like you!

The National Museum of Mexican Art has a ramp and is accessible to wheelchairs, both manual and electric. PML staff are not able to assist patrons transferring to or from a wheelchair, theatre seat or vehicle. Service animals are permitted. At this time there is not a planned usage of audio descriptions, Open Captioning, or for ASL interpreters to be in attendance. For any additional accessibility information or requests, please email admin@playmakerslab.org.

Going to the Party

By Kaylon N and Kaneesha D, 3rd Grade, Harold Washington
Dialogues That's Weird, Grandma

Characters: Hello Kitty and Tinker Bell
Setting: At a Party
TB: Hey! Hello Kitty let’s go to the party that I heard of at that fancy hotel.
HK: Let’s go in my closet to see what we are going to wear.
(techno music comes on hello kitty repeats MEOW and tinkerbell does a crazy “huh!” while waving her wand)
TB: Ok, do you have any dresses?
HK: I have lots of dresses with lots of colors.
TB: The party starts at 3:00 pm.
HK: Ok, well we have to hurry up.
TB: How about I wear a light green dress.
HK: How about I wear a pink dress.
TB: The party starts in 3 minutes!
HK: Ok, let’s go!
TB: Let’s get in the car.
HK: We are at the hotel!
TB: It is big. . .
HK: Let’s hurry up and go in there to the party.
TB: Ok it is on the 10th floor.
HK: If the party is over when we get there let’s go to the banquet hall and have a dinner.
TB: Let’s get in the elevator before the party is over.
HK: The party is over.
TB: Let’s go to the banquet hall and eat!
HK: Let’s go in get to eating!
The end.

Snowman from Pluto

By Omar M. , 3rd Grade, Lafayette
Holidays Winter Holidays That's Weird, Grandma

The Snowman from Pluto was very friendly to his friends.  His friends were Larry the acrobatic snowman, and Joshua the dancing snowman.  They all performed an act.  They all lived in Pluto.  They liked Pluto.  Pluto was nice and cold for them.  The people paid them 25 cents for every show they do.  They made an act so they could get the golden razor scooter.  They wanted that more than anything in the galaxy.  They had finally got what they wanted the golden razor scooter, each of them got one.  But one day a bully took their beautiful scooters.  But they didn’t know who took them.  Until they saw the bully and his friends riding with their scooters.  They couldn’t get the scooters back from the bullies so they tricked the bullies.  They made a scooter that wasn’t a real scooter just a replica.  So the bully has seen the scooter so he gave them back and played with the replica so the snowmen were happy.  And they still kept doing new acts and got more money.

Stone Cold Savings

By Jonathan F. , Lafayette
That's Weird, Grandma

One day here was a wrestler named Stone Cold he checked his mail box and found his savings and he said what the my savings then the telephone rang and Stone Cold picked it up and it was Goldberg and he said are you ready for the Saturday match while Goldberg was talking Stone Cold hung the phone up Stone Cold was looking at his savings he said these deals seem outstanding to me and I’ve been frozen in time for 40 years!!!!!!!
To be continued…..

Homeo and Rulilet

By Brianna H., Harold Washington Elementary
That's Weird, Grandma

Once upon a time blablabla look let me get to the point.  Once a long time ago in the projects lived a boy named Homeo.  He was born in a tub.  When he meet Julilet aka Rulilet (because she was always in charge) he was twenty years old with a big affour.  It was year 2002.  Julilet lived in the suburbs with her dad.  One day at a club they meet.  They were in love.  But her father Prince Anthony would not let her.  So one night they tried to get away but someone who worked for Prince Anthony, his name was Knight Kevin.  He gave cherry Kool-Aid which she is allergic to, cherries.  So she laid down on the table and she was asleep.  And in walked in Homeo and said oh well.  The end!!!

The Museum

By Sarah S. , Farnsworth
That's Weird, Grandma Other Venues Stuff On My Head 2000

Once upon a time a diamond named Cindy, was sitting in her case thinking of a way to get out and go on her own tour.  Soon she has an idea.  She takes one of her high top shoes off and threw it at the glass case and it worked!  Cindy broke a hole just big enough to fit through.  Cindy is sixteen so she is pretty old.  On her way to the fossil aisle Cindy met a ruby, his name is David.  David was very nice to Cindy.  David was on his own tour of the museum too.  The walked till the day was over.  Just then Cindy says, “Let’s go to the haunted castle near by here”.  “Sure” says David.  As they enter the castle a devil greets them the devil leads them into a dark room with only one dim green light.  “Are you hungry for a midnight snack?”  “We are starved”, they answer.  “Would you like worm pie, cockroach cupcakes, or eyeball ice-cream?”  “We will take an um, um, um, we will take a eyeball ice-cream sundae please>”  “Comin’ right up.”  Cindy tried to take the eyeballs off but the eyeballs just appeared again.  So David decided to try just one.  Then Cindy tried one and that is the end…....OF CINDY AND DAVID.

Two old Mens That Know How to Do Karate

By Lawrence H, Chalmers
That's Weird, Grandma Other Venues Storefront 2002

Once upon a time there was two old mens.  Their name was Tim and Mike.  So one man was in a wheelchair and one man was standing up.  So they were practicing Karate.  Then the man that was standing asked the man that was sitting in a wheelchair do he want to play fighting.  So they played fighting and the man that was standing up beat the man that was in the wheelchair.  Then Mike asked Tim when he was born he said February 1st.  Then they start to argue because Mike wouldn’t tell him when was his birthday.  So they start to fight.  Then they said they is sorry.

I Remember The Day I Broke My Two Front Teeth

By Maria V. , Field
That's Weird, Grandma

I remember the day I broke my two front teeth.  The bad thing was that they weren’t baby teeth, they were the teeth I was going to have for the rest of my life.  I was in the gym.  We were racing suddenly I fell down.  I stand up and my mouth was bleeding.  The gym teacher told Karen to take me to the office.  Then she went back to the gym room.  The nurse told me to wash my mouth, then she saw that I had cut my lips, she put me some ice on my lips.  Two days later my teeth fall out, all that day I was crying on my room.  The next day my mom took me to the dentist.  The dentist put some paste on my broken teeth, she told me not to touch.  Then it got harder.  The dentist told me to take care of my new teeth so they won’t broke again, and I still have my new teeth.

The Crying Woman

By Kimberle M, 4th Grade, Cleveland
Spanish That's Weird, Grandma

Once upon a time there was this woman that had 3 kids and a husband.  She was making chors when somebody knocked on the door.  It was her mom she invited her to a party her husband said “yes” but the woman named maria said “no”. So it was night time to go but only her husband Carlos went it was late and Carlos didn’t appeared so Maria went to find him and she discovered that he was dancing with another woman she felt very angry that she wanted to kill her three kids and she went to her house again but her three little kids knew she was angry that they went to her uncle’s house.  Maria knew they were there she bought toys and candies.  Than 1 boy went outside and Maria told him “come brayan want a toy” and he went.  She put him inside a big bag.  Then his sister went to look for him and Maria did the same to her kid that was Angelica.  The third kid named Marcos went to look for them and Maria did the same.  So she went to throw them, 1 in a river, another one t the bus, and the third to a haunted house.  So it pass years and Maria was dead she went to the sky like everybody does when they die.  God didn’t let her in until she finds her kids and all nights she cries for her kids she goes where she left them and they are not there and she is always crying.

The End.

The Lazy Hummingbird Ruins the Rock Concert

By Sofia B., Loyola Park After School Program

At midnight on Thursday, people at the concert heard a “bzzz sound” because the music was too quiet.  The hummingbird was by the drummer who was crazy.  He banged the drumsticks on the hummingbird because he was crazy.  The hummingbird died.  The lights turned off in the concert and tons of hummingbirds came out.  They stung every single person and they all died!