Thirteen-year-old actor Ian Thigpen stands in rehearsal at the Chicago Children’s Theatre. He’s surrounded by three award-winning Chicago theater standouts: choreographer and actor Breon Arzell, director Mikael Burke, and playwright Terry Guest.
They confer quietly, and Thigpen takes the stage. He launches into “Another Sunday,” the first song in the new musical “Milo Imagines the World,” running at the Chicago Children’s Theatre Oct. 12 through Nov. 10.
In the audience sits a small group of kids and observers. Some are the children of theater staff. But some are members of organizations that work with children of incarcerated adults.
The kids are engaged and perk up every time the cast gets to one of the production’s original songs. It’s a rehearsal, yet the children cheer at the conclusion of every musical number.
“Milo Imagines the World” is a world-premiere adaptation of the children’s book by Caldecott Medal–winning pair Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson. The story follows Milo on his weekly Sunday train ride to visit his mother, who is incarcerated.
This play tackles topics that resonate beyond childhood. And the creative team behind it is poised to deliver a professional product that will travel beyond Chicago, to children’s theaters in Minneapolis and Omaha that are taking part in a rolling world premiere.
Thigpen, who plays Milo, says the music — composed by the Atlanta duo Christian Magby and Christian Albright — is one of his favorite parts of the show.
“I would say my favorite song is ‘Another Sunday,’ ” said the young actor, speaking in a conference room after rehearsal. “It’s the start of the show, when we don’t know anything yet, but we’re getting ready.” (In the song, Milo and his sister Adrienne are getting ready for their weekly Sunday subway ride. At this point, this audience does not yet know their final destination will be a prison.)
For Chicago-based playwright Terry Guest, writer of the Jeff Award–winning play “The Magnolia Ballet,” the approach here was to make a play for kids that respects their ability to handle complex topics.
“I got into theater as a kid, so I have a lot of respect for the ways that storytelling and theater can teach children and can allow them to express feelings that they have deep down inside,” said Guest. “I think that kids are audience members that deserve the same level of respect as adults do.”
This production is Guest’s first adaptation. But the playwright was instantly drawn to the project because of his personal connection to the source material.
“Growing up, my father was incarcerated for part of my childhood,” said Guest. “So when I read the book, I was just blown away by it. I was that kid that used art and writing short stories and drawing pictures to help me both escape and explore my surroundings. It felt so right to me the minute I picked up the book.”
In the production, which runs just under 60 minutes, Milo draws sketches that come to life onstage in ways that are fun and imaginative. But the play also covers deeper themes: specifically, judging — and misjudging — people based on appearances or on their connections to incarcerated family members. These universal topics will resonate with audience members old and young.
“[The production] works in layers,” said Burke, the director, who previously directed Refracted Theatre Company’s “Tambo & Bones.” That show won eight Jeff Awards last spring, with Burke nabbing one for best director. “It grabs hold of you with the sort of fun and excitement of diving into these different imagined worlds. And it’s really fun. And then, as we continue to do that, we sort of start to peel back that layer and we go, ‘Wait a minute. It’s not always a good thing to make an assumption about someone.’ ”
These layers are not missed by Thigpen, the preteen star of the show. He may be young, but he’s aware of the ideas being presented in the story. In one scene, Milo spots a kid in his train car and draws him in his sketchbook.
“At first, Milo thought [the kid on the train] was a king because he wore a tie and he had a perfect part down the middle of his hair,” explains Thigpen. Milo sees himself as the exact opposite, with dirty shoes and messy hair: “He just felt that the other kid wasn’t like him.”
By the end of the show, Milo learns that he actually has a big thing in common with the kid he imagined as a king. And Thigpen hopes the audience takes away a lesson from this experience.
“I think it’s OK to have an imagination,” he said, “but just don’t judge other people and don’t guess what they’re gonna be like before you even meet them.”