‘Six Stories Up at the Zoo’ features Hanover Park seventh-grader and a Woodridge actress

In Tellin’ Tales Theatre’s “Six Stories Up at the Zoo,” six middle school students visit the Wienerbury Zoo, a sanctuary for animals with differences: a dwarf giraffe, a vegan lion and a wolf who can’t howl among others.

When they find out the zoo is closing because of federal funding cuts they must find a way to keep it open. This lively show features original songs and score, innovative choreography, fanciful masks and runs weekends Nov. 14-23 at Filament Theater, 4041 N. Milwaukee in Chicago. Tickets and information are at www.tellintales.org.

“Six Stories Up At The Zoo” is the result of an annual mentoring program between middle school students with and without disabilities and adult theater mentors now in its 28th year.

Emma Nava of Hanover Park, a seventh-grader at Eastview Middle School in Bartlett, and actress Mary Hobein of Woodridge are one of the six teams who worked together to create a portion of the show.

Tellin’ Tales Theatre has a mission since 1994 to shatter barriers between the disabled and non-disabled worlds through the transformative power of personal story.