THE KEY: YOUNG CRITICS MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

Excited to apply? View last year’s sample application form!

Welcome to The Key: Young Critics Mentorship Program! Rescripted‘s youth program co-facilitated by Founder of Rescripted Regina Victor, and television and theatre critic Oliver Sava. Our third session of The Key began September 25th, applications for this year are now closed, but you can view this year’s application below. The Key is produced in partnership with Chicago Inclusion Project, and hosted at Steppenwolf Theater Company.

The six sessions for youth ages 18-24 of The Key feature the opportunity to see Chicago theatre, workshop their reviews, learn about the principles of criticism and to learn from guest speakers from different areas of the local arts community.

L to R The Key: Young Critics Mentorship Program Alumni Yasmin Zacaria Mikhaiel and Sierra Carlson, and Co-Facilitators Regina Victor and Oliver Sava after their session: “Turning Dramaturgy into Dramatic Criticism” at the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs Association National Conference.

In its first two sessions, The Key has reviewed productions at: Steppenwolf Theater, Shattered Globe Theatre, First Floor Theater, Firebrand Theatre, Raven Theatre, Victory Gardens, Theater and TimeLine Theatre among others.

Previous Guest Speakers have included:
● Writer/producer Aaron Carter (Steppenwolf Theatre)
● Directors Jonathan Berry (Steep Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre), Tyrone Phillips (Definition Theatre, Raven Theatre) and Harmony France (Firebrand Theatre)
● Playwrights Ike Holter (Jackalope Theatre, Goodman Theatre) and Loy Webb (The New Colony, MCC Theater)
● Actor Caroline Neff (Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble member)
● Editors Tasha Robinson (The Verge) and Genevieve Koski (Vulture) and Kerry Reid (Chicago Reader)
● Theater critics Chris Jones (Chicago Tribune), Kris Vire (Time Out Chicago, Chicago Sun Times), Catey Sullivan (Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Reader) and Sheri Flanders (Chicago Reader, Rescripted).

Click here to read writing from previous sessions.

Applications for the 2019 session are now closed, click here to view the 2019 sample application!

Left to right: Regina Victor (co-facilitator), Emjoy Gavino (Chicago Inclusion Project), and Oliver Sava (co-facilitator) of The Key.

Session 3 (current):
Alisa Boland
Yiwen Wu
Ada Alozie
Mariah Schultz
Hannah Antman
Anyah Akanni

Alumni Session 2:
Sierra Carlson
Lonnae Hickman
Aaron Lockman
Yasmin Zacaria Mikhaiel
Elon Sloan

The Key: Young Critics Mentorship Program Session 2 L to R Lonnae Hickman, Yasmin Zacaria Mikhaiel, Elon Sloan, Oliver Sava (co-facilitator), Regina Victor (co-facilitator), and Aaron Lockman.

Alumni Session 1:
Corbett Baratta
Danielle Chmielewski
Logan McCullom
Gyna Thomas