These kids have seen a lot: broken families, violence, drug use, poverty and despair. Now they’ve seen something else – something they probably never imagined: the Illinois Supreme Court justices sitting unrobed and absorbed with interest in their lives.

The state’s highest court played host this week to a theater troupe composed of troubled kids performing plays based on their experiences. It was a rare chance for the two halves of Illinois’ juvenile justice system to appear in court, not to hash out a penalty, but to connect and share a bit of hope.

Storycatchers Theater is a combination theater troupe and support group working within the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice. Started in 1984 by Meade Palidofsky of Chicago, the program lets young people in the juvenile justice system perform original musical theater as a means of working through issues and preparing to make better choices.

At the usually staid Illinois Supreme Court on Monday, an audience composed of the justices, prominent attorneys and other members of the criminal justice system watched as young people ranging in age from 16 to 25 acted out musical scenes based on their neighborhoods and their lives. The songs covered issues like peer pressure, teen pregnancy, burying family members, absent parents, drug addiction, suicide attempts and struggling to recognize one’s true worth.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Rita Garman told Illinois Times that she and Justice Anne Burke invited Storycatchers Theater to perform at the court in Springfield because they saw the group perform previously and were moved and encouraged by it.

“I think it’s a powerful performance, and it’s real,” Garman said. “It shows the potential these young people have and personalizes the problems and issues that face many of our youth today. It’s easy for people to paint with a broad brush and make generalizations, but these are young people who have tremendous potential, and our future rests with them.”

The members of Storycatchers Theater performed three excerpts from longer pieces written by the members themselves. Palidofsky, the Storycatchers founder, says the visit to the Supreme Court helped reinforce the self-worth the program tries to instill.

“To come and have important people listen to what they have to say and care about their stories makes them feel like they are something,” she said. “It’s important because these kids are important. … It makes a huge difference when people understand that these are kids people should see, because otherwise, they’re largely invisible.”

The performance’s first excerpt, Struggling in These Streets, was written by the Changing Voices Ensemble, a group of young people recently released from incarceration. The excerpt tells the story of a brother and sister visiting the street memorial of their dead 13-year-old sibling. They argue as the sister recalls getting caught with someone else’s gun and her family failing to support her in court or visit her while she was in prison.

Firewriters, a group of male prisoners at the Illinois Youth Center in Chicago, performed an excerpt addressing the pressures on young men in poor neighborhoods. The story contrasts a young man who wants to be the star of the debate team with those who seek more high-profile status on the football field or in the music industry. The young man with dreams of debate glory is ridiculed for his clothes and his intelligence, and he eventually succumbs to the pressure of money and machismo when he agrees to sell drugs.

In the song “Dope Comes First,” the Fabulous Females, a female group from the Illinois Youth Center at Warrenville, address a feeling of powerlessness in the face of drug addiction. The excerpt culminates in a suicide attempt as one character tries to intentionally overdose.

Candice Jones, director of the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice, told the group after their performance that they were “changing the dialogue” about young people in the system.

“This room is packed with people who need to see the power in your performance,” she said, “and also, when we just make minimal investments in you, how you guys can completely change the conversation about what’s happening.”

Greg Holmes, an alumnus of Storycatchers Theater who now teaches in the program, said he hopes judges and other people in the criminal justice system understand that kids in the system are more than just their crimes or their backgrounds.

“Just because somebody does a crime,” he said, “they shouldn’t label them just as a criminal for the rest of their life.”

Contact Patrick Yeagle at [email protected].