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Fox Valley youth theater group makes anti-bullying film

Fox Valley teens create film about respect

Fifteen Elgin-area teens are featured in an anti-bullying film that its producers hope local schools can use as a teaching tool.

Downtown Elgin and Hawaii served as the backdrop for the film "Lost in Paradise," which took 18 months to complete, said Susan Heaton, director of operations for the Children's Theatre of Elgin & Fox Valley Theatre Company.

"Education has been a big part of our organization from the start," Heaton said. "The film is about respect, about making choices. It's about understanding the effects of our behavior on other people."

The theater group has produced a study guide for the film, as it does with all its productions, which meets Common Core State Standards, she added.

The project was funded through a grant from the Palmer Foundation in Elgin and received volunteer help from Kohl's Cares. The money paid for equipment, green screens and cameras, as well as audition and training tips to help young players get started in theater and film production. The actors paid their own way to Hawaii.

The teenage actors featured in the film are from the Elgin and Burlington areas, though the theater company draws players from Cook, DuPage, Kane and McHenry counties. Some teens also worked behind the scenes on the technical aspects of film production, Heaton said.

The storyline involves students having to do a report on seven islands - Tonga, American Samoa, Tahiti, the Philippines, Hawaii, New Zealand and Okinawa, Japan. Their disrespectful attitudes force the teacher to magically transport the students to those islands, where they encounter locals and learn about their customs, ultimately changing their behavior.

Scenes were filmed partly at the Gail Borden Public Library in Elgin and on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Some native Tongans, Samoans and Maoris also were recruited for the film, Heaton said.

The goal of the film is to help students recognize negative and bullying behaviors in themselves and others, as well as broaden their understanding of cultural customs, said Peter Akemann, the film's director and one of the founders of the children's theater.

"The idea was other cultures can teach us something about how to behave that we should be willing to learn," he said.

Producers tested the film in fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms in Community Unit District 300 and Elgin Area School District U-46.

"We thought initially that it would be for an elementary age audience. Now we envision it as a fourth- through eighth-grade teaching tool," Heaton said.

So far, 50 DVDs of the film and study guides have been distributed to teachers throughout the Fox Valley.

A screening of the film and reception is scheduled from 7 to 8:30 p.m. today at the Gail Borden Public Library, 270 N. Grove Ave., Elgin. DVD copies and study guides also will be available.

"We just want to get it out there to educators," Heaton said. "The whole point of it was to give them an educational tool. And the fact that it's local actors and landmarks, I think will maybe help bring that point home a little bit better."

To request a study guide and DVD, call Heaton at (847) 214-7152.

Scenes from “Lost in Paradise” were shot in downtown Elgin and in Hawaii. The anti-bullying film features 15 teens from the Elgin and Burlington areas. COURTESY OF CHILDREN’S THEATRE OF ELGIN
The film “Lost in Paradise,” which features local teens, took 18 months to complete. It will be part of a reception tonight at Gail Borden Public Library on North Grove Avenue in Elgin. COURTESY OF CHILDREN’S THEATRE OF ELGIN
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