In September 2026, Distant Era photographed the K’ilu Company’s Tale of the Whale at the Northbrook Theatre.
Here’s a little bit about the K’ilu Company from their wesbite:
Founded in 2021, The K’ilu Company brings a theatrical and imaginative approach to early Jewish learning, rooted in play, embodiment, and wonder. Drawing on founder Jonathan Shmidt Chapman’s internationally recognized background in sensory theater for young audiences, the company developed a distinctive pedagogy that invites children and families to step inside Jewish stories—k’ilu, as if they were there.
The K’ilu Company website
Tale of the Whale follows the character of Jonah through his sea journey in the belly of the whale in an imaginative production that incorporates music, puppetry, and so much more.
An Immersive, Sensory Experience for Children
The K’ilu Company’s productions immerse their young audiences in the story by engaging them directly in the round (the audience surrounding the central performance space), presenting the kids with props to touch, puppets to interact with, participatory songs in which the audience plays the parts of waves or wind. In Tale of the Whale, the performers brought various tactile elements to the children, using fans to create a breeze, a spray bottle for the kids to feel the spray of ocean waves, and rope-like props for the inside of the whale. In the undersea sequence, the performers brought puppets close enough for the audience to reach out and touch. The actors delighted the children with this close-up play, encouraging them to engage in the show.
Each performer onstage is also a skilled musician, playing a variety of different instruments or leading songs. And then there was a whole section of the performance done with shadow puppetry.
All of this took place in about forty minutes or so, an incredible amount of creative, high energy work with so many immersive elements packed in to a remarkably small span of time.
As photographer, my job was to be as unobtrusive and invisible as I could while dancing in and out of the space to capture the performance and all its engaging elements.
Connections
It wouldn’t be a Traveller blog if I didn’t take a moment to delight in all the ways people know one another. I am grateful to Sam Shankman for referring me to K’ilu Company. Sam played Elephant in Elephant and Piggie’s We Are in a Play at Young People’s Theatre of Chicago, and he was the music director for YPTCHI’s A Year with Frog and Toad and The Hobbit.
In another small world scenario, storyteller and puppeteer Rachel Singer parked right next to me. We live in the same neighborhood and met over a dozen years ago; I also did video work for Rachel’s Eve of a Great Remembering project in late 2024, which also involved puppetry and innovative storytelling. I’d run into Rachel earlier in the summer at our local cafe when I met with Deana Vazquez to plan her Star Wars poster. Rachel works with the artists in K’ilu Company, and it was a joy to see her.
I am grateful to Jonathan Chapman and Doug Winkelstein of the K’ilu Company for bringing me on to photograph such a joyfully fun production. Thanks as well to all the fantastic performers for their considerable skill and craft.
Cast and Crew
Written and Directed by: Jonathan Shmidt Chapman
Composer: Sam Shankman
Environment and Prop Design: Northbrook Theater Staff
Costume Design: Sara Morrison
Cast (September 18, 2026): Jordan Zelvin, Aaron Davidson, Natalie Tangeman, Sam Shankman, Hal Baum
Stage Manager: Rachel Rock
