The world of young people in the United States today is exhilaratingly global, enriched by the influences of many various cultures. With that, however, comes the need for children to retain confidence in their own heritage while empathizing with people who might seem very different from them. The protagonists of these four plays—written for the world-renowned Children’s Theatre Company of Minneapolis—strive to achieve that balance with determination, love, and humor.

The richness and relevance of these plays lie in their complex portraits of diversity and cultural collision. In Snapshot Silhouette, Somali-born Najma and African American Tay C share the same skin color but struggle to understand each other. The heroine of Brooklyn Bridge must forge new connections with her Puerto Rican and West Indian neighbors while maintaining her connection to her Russian mother. In Esperanza Rising, Mexican immigrant farmworkers navigate complicated relationships with other Mexicans who are in the United States illegally. And in Average Family, the character who knows the most about the Dakota way of life is not a Native American but the daughter of a white family.

A culturally plural society can separate people by perceived chasms of unfamiliarity and difference. But as the characters in these plays learn, there can also be bridges built to span those chasms and connect the two sides. The plays in The Face of America will serve as cultural bridges for young people everywhere.

Children’s Theatre Company (CTC), located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is widely recognized as the leading theatre for young people and families in North America. Winner of the 2003 Tony® Award for regional theatre, CTC has received numerous honors, including awards from The Joyce Foundation and The Wallace Foundation. It participates in the National Endowment for the Arts New Play Development Program, the Shakespeare for a New Generation program, the EmcArts Innovation Lab funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and the New Voices/New Visions 2010 series presented by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. CTC serves more than 250,000 people annually through performances, new play development, theatre arts training, and community and education programs. For more information about Children’s Theatre Company, visit www.childrenstheatre.org.

Peter Brosius is the artistic director of the Children’s Theatre Company.

Elissa Adams is the director of new play development at the Children’s Theatre Company.