Since late last summer, public art works around the city have found new voices as part of Statue Stories Chicago, a program that has notable Chicagoans writing and reading monologues for the likes of Cloud Gate and Miro's Chicago that you can listen to on your smartphone. Starting March 15, four more statues are set to start talking, with competition-winning scripts written by members of the public.
Three of the new Statue Stories were entries in a competition overseen by the Goodman Theatre. The Brachiosaurus outside the Field Museum will be voiced by Brian Dennehy, with a script by University of Chicago theater student Megan Philippi. Bronze Cow, outside the Chicago Cultural Center, has a story by Patricia Keeney, read by Chicago actor E. Faye Butler. And in the south garden of the Art Institute, WGN News correspondent Ana Beleval will give voice to Lake Ontario of the Fountain of the Great Lakes, with a monologue by Elyse Kallen.
The fourth new story is the winner of a youth writing competition run by the Chicago Park District. Fountain Girl, a statue in Lincoln Park near the Chicago History Museum, will get a story by Evanston Township High School student Aela Morris, read by Chicago High School for the Performing Arts student Chloe Grace.