ABOUT US
What's in a name?
Based in the northwest suburbs, TesserAct Theatre Ensemble is a 501c3 Illinois non-for-profit corporation, founded in 1993 by Artistic Director, Tamara Jackson-Kist. The name of the company was inspired by her favorite book from fourth grade, A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L’Engle.
Is there such a thing as a tesseract?
In the newest Disney movie version, Mrs. Whatsit explains, “The fifth dimension’s a tesseract. You add that to the other four dimensions and you can travel through space without having to go the long way around. In other words, to put into Euclid, or old-fashioned plane geometry, a straight line is not the shortest distance between two points.” In the book it is defined as a gateway to other dimensions, the bridge, a wrinkle, allowing you to cross from one place to another, one time to another. Either way, Tamara felt theater could act as a portal, transversing time streams, realities and taking audiences places they might never go on their own, physically and emotionally, and a new theater company was born.
Community-based
TesserAct prides itself on being “The place where community and performing arts meet.” All our actors, staff, crew, board members are from the Chicago-land area. We perform in the neighborhood: at Forest View Educational Center, at churches, at libraries, art galleries, museums, book stores, grocery stores, restaurants, village halls, and even a car dealership! TesserAct believes in the power of theater to change lives and will continue to reach out to community organizations and individuals.
Educational
Many of our productions have some sort of educational nugget included. We also provide hands on experience for everyone in all the theatrical disciplines. We encourage mentoring, learning new skills, and stretching beyond our comfort zones at all levels of the organization. We are proud of the personal and professional growth we see in our people.