Chicago All Stars director David Cherry (bottom right corner) with performers and volunteers from the most recent Chicago All Stars Talent Show.

The Chicago All Stars is growing by leaps and bounds!  The March talent show cycle was booked into a space at the South Side YMCA that holds 150 people.  Since so many performers came out to the auditions – 37 acts, featuring 97 performers! – several acts agreed to perform in the May cycle.  At the show on March 15, 20 high-energy acts performed for a capacity crowd of 150 people.  Though most of the acts hailed from Chicago, there were performers from the southern and western suburbs, as well as performers from as far away as Minnesota and Ohio!  New performers came from the YMCA’s Teen Reach program, as well as the Building With Books program.  Judging from the enthusiasm in March, the next Chicago Talent Show on May 17th at Englewood High School should be the biggest one yet!

Also in March, the Chicago All Stars for the first time sent performers to the All Stars Project Annual Gala in New York at Lincoln Center. Michael Holmes and Johnathan Azor, the Chi-Town Boyz, enjoyed their time in the Big Apple. They learned a lot during the rehearsals and they put on a wonderful performance in the first ever “National All Stars Talent Show,” alongside acts from New York, New Jersey and the San Francisco Bay Area. The fantastically successful evening at Lincoln Center offered a chance to reflect on how much the Chicago All Stars has grown in the past year and on how much growth is still to come!

For more information about the Chicago All Stars, contact David Cherry at dcherry@allstars.org or (773) 624-2848.