Chicago Children’s Theatre invites Chicago families to meet Little Amal, the 12-foot puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee girl, at a free event on Saturday, September 30 at 10:30 a.m. at Margate Park, 4921 N. Marine Drive, on Chicago’s Lakefront.
Amal – a 12-foot puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee girl – will learn how to make a very special pot of Stone Soup. She needs the children of Chicago to help her with a dollop of theatre, a dash of music and a sprinkle of imagination ✨
Right after, Amal will make the first kick in a game of youth soccer organized by the Syrian Community Network.
Free soup from a local Syrian restaurant will be available, and food/supply donations will be accepted.
Families are encouraged to bring items of most need, including cooking oil, peanut butter, ground coffee, canned beans, canned fish and chicken, jams and jellies, rice, pads and tampons, diapers (baby and adult), shampoo and lotion.
CCT and event partners The Chicago Park District, The Chicago Civic Orchestra, CircEsteem, Nourishing Hope, Soup and Bread, and the Syrian Community Network are among more than 300 artists, museums, community organizations and cultural institutions nationwide hosting welcome events on the current Amal Walks Across America Tour, one of the largest free public festivals ever created.
Starting in Boston on September 7 and culminating on November 5 in San Diego, Amal will visit more than 37 towns and cities on a 6,000-mile journey through the nation’s capital, the Midwest, the South and along the Southern border.
Little Amal has already traveled across 13 countries meeting more than a million people, and watched by tens of millions more online. She walks for the hundreds of thousands of refugees and displaced people of all ages roaming the world in search of safety, half of whom are children. Although she does not speak, she gives voice to marginalized people, and she is welcomed by ordinary people and people of power. Her walk aims to unite communities and refocus attention on the urgent needs of refugees, immigrants and asylum seekers, and to highlight the rich cultures and contributions immigrants bring with them. For more information and Little Amal’s U.S. tour schedule, visit walkwithamal.org.
Amal was designed and built by the Handspring Puppet Company of South Africa, creators of the award-winning puppets for the hit show War Horse. Amal is inspired by a character in Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson’s play The Jungle, about a refugee camp in Calais, France.
Amal Walks Across America is produced by The Walk Productions in association with Handspring Puppet Company. The Walk Productions is led by David Lan and Tracey Seaward. Playwright/Director Amir Nizar Zuabi serves as Artistic Director, Sarah Loader is Executive Producer, and the Associate Artistic Directors are Khadijat Oseni and Enrico Dau Yang Wey.
