New musical marks Children's anniversary

David Akemann founded the Children's Theatre of Elgin in 1988 with his brother Peter because he cares about kids and wanted to create a creative outlet for them.

"The local schools were cutting back the arts and sports below the ninth grade," Akemann says, "and there were very few or no opportunities for them."

So it is fitting that to celebrate their 20th anniversary, the company is producing an original musical, "Placing Out," about a project started in New York in the 19th century that placed street children with foster parents in the American west.

They rode the so-called "Orphan Trains" that traveled from New York City to foster homes in what was then the west -- Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska and points further west.

"The "Orphan Trains" were not called that at the time," Akemann says, "only more recently were they called that. They were started by Rev. Charles Loring Brace."

Brace was concerned about the welfare of the large numbers of abandoned and homeless children in New York.

"There were literally thousands of children on the streets," Akemann says. So Grace organized the first trains in 1854 through Children's Aid Society of New York. The trains ran until 1929 and helped place an estimated 200,000 children.

"What they would literally do is place the children on a train and give them a single change of clothes." Akemann says. "At each stop on the train line the children would be presented to people interested a foster child. And people would sign an agreement to take care of a child until they reached a certain age."

Akemann first came up with the idea of turning the story of these trains into a musical when his wife, a school teacher, came home with some materials on the subject.

"I read the stories of the people involved," Akemann says, "and I was very moved by it."

Akemann also saw potential for a theater piece with lots of roles for children taking theater workshops at the Children's Theatre of Elgin.

"The age groups involved in the story coincided exactly with the age groups in our theater group," Akemann explains.

Akemann tuned to Sleepy Hollow-based writer, Christine Tosun, to write much of the script. And then he and his twin brother, Peter, wrote the lyrics to songs by the New York-based composer Daniel Brewbaker. Brewbaker had been a high school buddy of David and Peter's at Elgin High School.

The result is an epic Broadway-style music. Epic not in length but in cast size.

"We have a cast of 90 or so," Akemann says, "We have 82 children and youth on stage, and 12 adults.

"The show is really on two levels," Akemann says. "On one level, we have the historic story of children and their physical journey -- and what it would be like to be homeless. On the other level, we have a show that asks how are we going to respond at any time to the friendless and the homeless? How are we going to respond to waves of immigration coming to our country now? And what is it that makes us who we are?"

"Placing Out," opened last night and runs through April 13 at the Hemmens Cultural Center, 45 Symphony Way, Elgin. For tickets call the Hemmens Box Office at (847) 931-5900. For information on tickets for school groups, call (847)-214-7550.