The Puffin Grant was generously used to fund Jackalope’s House Party Initiative, which provides free and accessible tickets for youth throughout Chicago. Though the original proposal discussed a collection of short plays entitled “Snack Break”, the project was retitled as “The Living Newspaper Festival” due to unexpected copyright challenges. Six playwrights were given newspaper articles and wrote pieces inspired the headlines. The playwrights and directors represented the best of Chicago’s emerging talent, including Isaac Gomez, Ike Holter, and Calamity West. In addition, Jackalope 
partnered with young artists from The Yard Theatre and students from Taft High School to produce the festival for a total of 41 participants. The project was a great success and approximately 600 attendees came to the festival over the four-day run, including groups from Taft High School, the Chicago Parks District and Chi Arts.
The House Party Initiative continues into its third year. Due to the impact we had on our target audience, Jackalope was invited to participate in a festival for young audiences at the Kennedy Center this season.
Jackalope’s 2020 House Party will run alongside the world premiere of a new
play for young adult audiences currently in development for The Kennedy Center’s New Visions/New Voices Festival. The festival is dedicated to the development of new plays and musicals for young people and their families. The 3-day festival is a developmental process that results in a staged reading of the new work. Jackalope will be presenting this is what I chose no I’m not sorry and yes if you’d ask I’d do it again by Daria Miyeko Marinelli. Following the Kennedy Center presentation, Jackalope will present the play in Chicago for young people and community groups for free of charge, in keeping with the House Party Tradition that Puffin has help sustain.
