Cabinet of Wonder: An Evening with Natalie Merchant in Conversation with Dana Suskind

The University Club of Chicago will host Dana Suskind and American singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant in a discussion about Cabinet of Wonder, an exciting multimedia collaboration with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Children’s Theatre.

A magical introduction to music, poetry, and the dramatic arts for young audiences, Cabinet of Wonder features 16 music videos, a cast of 24 child actors, 27 musicians, a magic cabinet, elaborate costumes and sets, and shadow puppetry created by Chicago-based theater group Manual Cinema. The series was created for the enrichment of preschool and kindergarten children, and as a useful resource for their caregivers and teachers.

In the series, Merchant plays a dual role: a modern-day fun and friendly librarian-teacher figure named Miss Natalie, who has a passion for nursery rhymes, and an eighteenth-century fashioned Mother Goose who introduces the children, through song and dance, to the characters in her rhymes. Children come to visit Miss Natalie and are transported by her stories, rhymes, and big blue cabinet (which houses a secret shadow puppet theatre behind its doors). This Cabinet of Wonder serves as a beautiful portal through which the children both view and become the inhabitants of Rhyming Town in The Land of Make-Believe.

At this speical event, Merchant will be joined by Dr. Dana Suskind, who will explain the role song, storytelling and projects like Cabinet of Wonder play in neurodevelopment and language acquisition, while Merchant will share her experience of bringing arts into preschool classrooms, the impact of enriching arts education, and the eight-year journey of creating this reimagining of Mother Goose and her rhymes for a new generation of young children. Video clips from the production will also be featured during the discussion.