Chicago Children’s Theatre will present its first-ever Chicago Sensory Theatre Summit, a new, international convening of theater professionals, teaching artists, educators and disability advocates interested in boosting accessibility and engagement in the live performing arts, in February 2026,
Theater artists, educators and audiences from around the U.S. will gather for industry-only workshops as well as public-facing events including the Red Kite Friendship Tour, a Valentine's Day Red Kite Prom, an immersive sensory theater experience for the very young titled A Piece of Cake!, CCT’s free 20th Birthday Bash on Saturday, February 28, and more.
Chicago Children’s Theatre Co-Founder and Artistic Director Jacqueline Russell and CCT’s education staff curated the summit by drawing from the company’s 20 years of sensory work. These include CCT’s Red Kite Project experiences for children on the autism spectrum, all-access productions like X-Marks the Spot: An X-Tra Sensory Xperience inspired by visually impaired audiences, and its recent R.O.A.R. (Residencies of Arts and Resilience) program involving trauma-informed teaching and multisensory integration.
“The Chicago Sensory Theatre Summit will demonstrate the positive impacts of inclusive, immersive performance experiences for diverse audiences,” said Russell, “especially neurodivergent individuals or those with sensory sensitivities, by engaging multiple senses like touch, smell, taste, sight and sound, beyond seeing and hearing.”
All events take place at Chicago Children’s Theatre, 100 S. Racine in the West Loop. Some events are free and others are ticketed. Professional development workshops are offered on a Pay What You’re Able sliding scale.
Learn more details, sign up for e-mail updates and register to participate at chicagochildrenstheatre.org/event/chicago-sensory-summit.
Events open to the general public include:
Red Kite Prom
Saturday, February 14, 7-10 p.m.
$10
Designed for teenagers on the autism spectrum, Chicago Children’s Theatre’s Red Kite Prom will make this rite of passage more accessible for neurodiverse youth. Join CCT on Valentine’s Day for a sensory friendly prom with less intense light and sound, break spaces, fidgets at the ready, and chaperones who are trained in facilitating inclusion with autistic youth. Attendees will receive a pre-prom social story, dress to the nines, and dance the night away… or not! Lower energy options and alternative activities will be provided as part of prom, providing an inclusive and affirming space for everyone to celebrate
Red Kite Friendship Tour
Sunday, February 15, 10 a.m. and 12 p.m.
$10
Tailored to the unique needs of young people on the autism spectrum, a Red Kite Friendship Tour is a 30-minute multisensory experience that encourages audience members to show up fully as themselves as they enjoy a theatrical performance. Highly trained performers gently guide audience members through the participatory aspects of the performance. The current tour features the story and songs of Red Kite, Green Mountain. Hike up the mountain and make friends with its forest animals through song and participatory sensory activities.
Chicago Children’s Theatre’s 20th Birthday Bash
Saturday, February 28, 2026, 1-3 p.m.
All ages
Free with RSVP
It’s Chicago Children’s Theatre’s 20th birthday party, and you’re invited! Try out CCT's education programming in a mini-storytime class for Early Childhood learners. Look for cool craft projects for older kids, and interactive sensory experiences for all ages. Peek into CCT’s past with a chill-out room dedicated to what the company has accomplished in the last 20 years. See what's next for Chicago Children’s Theatre with a behind-the-scenes look at the designs for its 20th Anniversary season finale in April, an immersive production of Goodnight Moon.
A Piece of Cake!
Saturday and Sunday, February 28 and March 1, 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
An Immersive Theatrical Experience for the Very Young
For ages 0-6
$10
It’s Chicago Children’s Theatre’s 20th birthday, and we need your help! Baking a cake will be easy, right? Let’s find out in this interactive, immersive theatrical experience. Parents and their little ones will help with every step of cake-making using imagination, movement, and all eight senses in this one-of-a-kind participatory adventure. Participants will be invited to interact with this story through touch, sound, music and movement for a multisensory experience.
Unless otherwise noted, events and workshops for industry professionals are ticketed with a Pay What You Are Able sliding scale:
Community Mixer
Monday, February 2, 6-9 p.m.
For teaching artists, arts administrators and TYA professionals
Free with RSVP
A celebratory mixer launches a groundbreaking month of workshops and events honoring CCT's 20 years of pioneering access-oriented theater experiences. The mixer will feature light fare, drinks, a short welcome from Chicago Children’s Theatre Co-Founder and Artistic Director Jacqueline Russell and a conversation with special guest Andy Slater, a Chicago-based blind media artist and CCT creative collaborator.
Engaging 8 Senses To Theatricalize Your Classroom with Sam Mauceri
Monday, February 9, 5-7 p.m.
“Multisensory” is more than just a buzzword. It’s an opportunity to unleash students’ imaginations. Learn the why and how of using multisensory creative drama strategies to strengthen student learning in story time, drama class, and early elementary classrooms across all content areas. This workshop is well-suited for classroom teachers (PreK-5), teaching artists, children’s librarians, early childhood educators, and anyone interested in making early literacy exploration more engaging for all types of learners.
Your Neuro-inclusive Drama Classroom: Preparing to Meet Your Students Where They Are with Sam Mauceri and Teri Talo
Thursday, February 12, 1-3 p.m
Teaching or assisting neurodiverse students might feel daunting. You care about including and uplifting your students while meeting their specific needs, but may feel unsure of how to accomplish that. In this workshop, teaching artists of all experience levels will develop the skills needed to lead classes with confidence. CCT’s education professionals will cover topics ranging from neurodiversity 101 to the nitty-gritty of accommodations.
Return to Self & Space: Essential Groundwork for Creatives with Jacqueline Russell and Catherine Councell
Wednesday, February 18 and Friday, February 20, 1-3 p.m.
Artists, teachers and administrators are invited to this two-part workshop to discover their inner sense/feeling landscapes and connect to their creativity. In the first session, participants will explore multisensory play, trauma-conscious reflections, and practical somatic shifting tools. In the second session, the focus is on music, words and the palate of our beautiful nervous systems to connect to our artistic selves. This workshop is intended for anyone who is curious about harnessing their nervous system for creation and connection in the arts.
Multisensory Play in Bedside Pediatric Theatre with Elizabeth Brendel Horn
Thursday, February 19, 1-3 p.m.
What do you associate with a hospital? Perhaps the words institutional, sterile or isolated come to mind. Performing for an audience as small as one patient, bedside pediatric theater aims to reimagine a child’s hospital stay, bringing joy and healing through live theater. Elizabeth Brendel Horn (she/her/hers), an Associate Professor of Theatre at Northwestern University specializing in Creative Drama and Theatre for Young Audiences, will share how to develop multisensory bedside performances for pediatric patients ages 2 and up.
The Hunter Heartbeat Method with Kelly Hunter
Friday, February 20, 4-7 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday, February 21 and 22, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
U.K. theater artist and educator Kelly Hunter will introduce the Hunter Heartbeat Method, a series of sensory games based on Shakespeare created and developed over 25 years with autistic people across the world. Hunter’s games are short, fun to play, and, crucially, repeatable. These are games of humanity that need only the human voice and body and another person to play with, allowing everyone involved to express how it feels to be alive. On Saturday and Sunday, teaching artists will spend mornings with Hunter and her team learning his games, and afternoons sharing these games with children with autism, their friends and family.
Kelly Hunter Book Signing
Sunday, February 22, 6 p.m.
Free with RSVP
U.K. theater artist and educator Kelly Hunter, creator of the Hunter Heartbeat Method, will cap her Chicago visit by reflecting on her career, her Chicago Sensory Theatre Summit experience, and by signing copies of her book “Shakespeare’s Heartbeat: Drama Games for Autistic People.
Co-Creating Theatre for the Very Young with Jamal Howard and Ellie Levine
Monday, February 23, 1-3 p.m.
In this session, directors Jamal Howard and Ellie Levine will walk through their process for devising new work with and for preschoolers through the Theatre for the Very Young (TVY) class at Northwestern University. Attendees will have an opportunity to activate this work by creating interactive, multisensory experiences during the session.
Jacqueline Russell (credit: Joe Mazza, brave lux inc)
The Origins of Red Kite: CCT’s Journey Into Sensory Theatre Making with Jacqueline Russell and Laura Fajardo-Raiscos and Aashna Rai of Seesaw Theatre
Wednesday, February 25, 1-3 p.m.
Chicago Children’s Theatre’s Red Kite Project was founded in 2006 by Jacqueline Russell to create multisensory, immersive live theater experiences for children on the autism spectrum. In 2012 Northwestern University’s Seesaw Theatre was founded under the name Theatre Stands with Autism. This interactive workshop will allow for creative interaction and play, as well as reflect on the past, present and future of sensory theater making.
The Chicago Sensory Theatre Summit is presented with support from the Illinois Arts Council and Thoma Bravo.
About Chicago Children’s Theatre
“The Chicago theater scene is legendarily vibrant, so naturally a number of companies tailor productions to younger audiences. The cream of the crop is Chicago Children’s Theatre.”
– Chicago Tribune
Chicago Children’s Theatre, 100 S. Racine St. in Chicago’s West Loop, is Chicago’s destination for the best plays, musicals, classes and performing arts camps for young audiences, students and families.
The company was founded in 2005 with a big idea: Chicago is the greatest theater city in the world, and it deserves a great children’s theater. Now celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2025-26, Chicago Children’s Theatre is the city’s largest professional theater company devoted exclusively to children and young families.
In 2017, following 11 years of itinerancy, Chicago Children’s Theatre opened its forever home in Chicago’s West Loop community. Formerly the 12th District Chicago Police Station, the building was repurposed into a LEED Gold-certified, mixed-use performing arts, education and community engagement facility. For children, parents, caregivers and teachers, CCT is now a convenient, welcoming community hub, centrally located in the city, with free, onsite parking.
Chicago Children’s Theatre has established a national reputation for the production of first-rate children’s theater with professional writing, performing, and directorial talent and high-quality design and production expertise. In 2017, Chicago Children’s Theatre was the first theater for young audiences to win a National Theatre Award from the American Theatre Wing, creators of the Tony Awards. In 2019, the company won the National TYA Artistic Innovation Award from Theatre for Young Audiences/USA.
In tandem with its live productions, Chicago Children’s Theatre offers a full slate of Access services for patrons with disabilities, including ASL interpretation, open captioning, touch tours and sensory friendly performances. Chicago Children’s Theatre provides live theater experiences, classes and camps for children with autism and other special needs via its Red Kite Project. CCT also provides thousands of free and reduced-price tickets to weekday student matinees to under-resourced schools in partnership with Chicago Public Schools.
In addition to shows, CCT offers a full, year-round roster of performing arts education programs for ages 0 to 14. Visit chicagochildrenstheatre.org/family-programs for information on classes, workshops, winter, spring break and “school’s out” camps, and summer camps. Due to popular demand, in addition to its home in the West Loop, CCT camps and classes have expanded to new locations including Menomonee Club Drucker Center in Lincoln Park.
Chicago Children’s Theatre is supported by Goldman Sachs Gives, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, The Ralla Klepak Foundation for Education in the Performing Arts, Polk Bros Foundation, The MacArthur Fund for Culture, Equity and the Arts, Bayless Family Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Camp Out for Kids, Crown Family Philanthropies, PwC, Rivers Gives, US Bank, Thomabravo, Theater League Kansas City, Illinois Arts Council Agency and the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE).
Chicago Children’s Theatre is led by Co-Founders, Artistic Director Jacqueline Russell and Board Chair Todd Leland, with Board President Armando Chacon.
For more, visit chicagochildrenstheatre.org.