Kyle Browning, a fourth-grader at Champaign's South Side School, shared
the spotlight on stage at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts last
week with Tammy Walker, an actor with the Chicago-based Child's Play Touring
Theater.
Browning, daughter of UI music professor Zack Browning and his wife, Martha,
was one of a dozen local schoolchildren whose essays, songs and poems were
selected for inclusion in Child's Play's special election-year production,
"Kids for President." Lyrics from Kyle Browning's original song
were incorporated into a montage within the production called "If I
Could Change the World."
Child's Play, which was founded in Champaign in 1978 by the late Victor
Podagrosi and his wife June, solicited assistance for the show from young
writers across the country.
Locally, 575 schoolchildren submitted entries in a contest conducted by
Krannert Center. The resulting production was presented at the center Sept.
24 and 25 to more than 2,400 schoolchildren.
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