About Chicago Youth Shakespeare

our mission

Chicago Youth Shakespeare [CYS] is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to putting Shakespeare’s timeless works into the hands of 21st-century teenagers. CYS provides innovative performances and educational outreach programs that connect young adults across Chicagoland with Shakespeare and with each other. We are committed to providing a safe space for young artists of all backgrounds, and to fostering a diverse community of creative and compassionate global citizens.

our core values

CYS is committed to creating spaces where students and young artists of all backgrounds feel safe, welcome, respected, and heard.

our history

Chicago Youth Shakespeare was established in 2013 by founder and Artistic Director, Manon Spadaro, a teacher with a vision to share the life-changing experience of learning Shakespeare through performance with teenagers beyond her classroom.

Seven-and-a-half years later, CYS programs have impacted over 9000 students from more than 70 different public, private, and parochial schools across the Chicago area. We've granted our student participants over $90,000 in need-based program scholarships, helped teens raise more than $4,000 to support arts programming in public schools, and we remain committed to bringing free Shakespeare performances and learning opportunities to hundreds of new students each year. Learn more.

We proudly stand in solidarity with all those who fight to end racial injustice and inequality.

During this time of radical change and important conversations, CYS is re-examining, re-evaluating, and reaffirming our commitment to anti-racism across all aspects of our organization.

our approach

At CYS, our approach to Shakespeare is active and collaborative, engaging young people with the texts and with each other in ways that are meaningful and lasting. CYS students learn to drive the creative process by working together, thinking outside the box, and exploring Shakespeare's stories and characters in ways that resonate most with them.

In the rehearsal room, our young artists discover a place to develop their own curiosity-driven process, and to find their voice as part of a diverse, creative ensemble.

This learning environment was one of the best I have ever been in. The staff makes it very clear that CYS is a space for exploring and taking risks without fear of judgement.
- 9th Grader

In the classroom, performance-based activities invite learners to step into the shoes of Shakespeare's characters, making each line of dialogue, each story, their own.

I have learned so much about Shakespeare and about myself—like finding the truth, being open to change, and taking risks.
- 10th Grader

Shakespeare & teenagers?

Shakespeare’s characters are actually a lot like teenagers: They're spontaneous, impulsive, fickle, and yes, rebellious. They operate at a heightened level of intensity, facing conflicts that are not unfamiliar to most young people four centuries later, like navigating relationships, challenging authority, and determining one's own future. Read more

diversity statement

At CYS, we believe that fostering a diverse and inclusive environment is fundamental to learning, to art-making, and to building a more just and equitable world. We welcome students, teaching artists, staff, and volunteers of all backgrounds and ideologies into our community. CYS does not discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, family makeup, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or any other factor in the registration of students or the hiring of staff.

Chicago Youth Shakespeare's 2019/'20 season of programs were made possible in part by support from the following program partners: