Illinois Youth Center

Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice
Illinois Youth Center – Chicago, IL

On September 6, 2019, Curt L. Tofteland founded the Shakespeare Behind Bars|Illinois circle at the Illinois Youth Center - Chicago .  The program will run twice a week for sixteen weeks/80 hours of instruction and culminate in a shared performance experience on December 22, 2019.

Shakespeare Behind Bars was one of seven companies in the United States to receive an inaugural grant from the National Endowment for the Arts Shakespeare in American Communities to create a Shakespeare Behind Bars program in a Juvenile Detention Facility.

 

NEA ARTS: A Magazine of the National Endowment for the Arts 11.02.2019
What Light through Yonder Correctional Facility Window Breaks?
Shakespeare in American Communities Goes to Juvenile Correctional Facilities
By Antonella Nicholas

Chicago Tribune 11.30.2019
Someone shot, but the clock didnt stop: Learning Shakespeare and writing sonnets in youth prison
By Madeline Buckley