The Joffrey Ballet is proud to present the world premiere of Rita Finds Home, a family-friendly program and collaborative project between the Joffrey and Miami City Ballet, which will make its debut at the Navy Pier Lake Stage, July 9–10, 2022. Rita Finds Home is conceived by a nationally recognized, women-led creative team including Amy Hall Garner, a featured choreographer of the Joffrey’s Winning Works Choreographic Competition in 2011; Karla Estela Rivera, the Chicago-based author and Executive Director of Free Street Theater (West Town); as well as award-winning children’s book author Elisa Chavarri, and will be danced by the Joffrey Studio Company and Academy Trainees of the Joffrey Academy of Dance, Official School of The Joffrey Ballet. Rita Finds Home is free-to-the-public and travels from Navy Pier on July 9-10 to parks throughout Chicago from July 14-17 as part of the Chicago Park District Night Out in the Parks series. Rita Finds Home, a roughly 45-minute production, centers on Rita, a young artist who paints and dreams of one day living in the big city despite the lush tropical island in which she now lives. When a hurricane thrusts Rita and her mother into a new life in an urban metropolis, she struggles to adapt to her new environment. Feeling lost and like everything she knew, including her talents, were washed away by the storm, Rita embarks on a journey that helps her re-define what home means to her. For a full list of venues and schedule, see below or visit www.joffrey.org.

Photo Credit: The Joffrey Ballet