Register Now for the Books and Plays Club Spring Session, Thursdays, January 23rd – March 20th

Harper College and Search, Inc. have partnered to offer the Book and Plays Club for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Weekly classes will run Thursdays, 4pm – 5:30pm, from January 23rd through March 20th.  Classes will take place at the Search, Inc. program center at 625 Slawin Ct., in Mount Prospect.

Learning is a lifelong process. Unfortunately, after completing their secondary education, individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities too often find themselves in services that no longer challenge them intellectually and socially. Agencies that serve these individuals, like Search, Inc., have a responsibility to offer creative programming options that stimulate learning and growth in these areas. With this in mind, Search, Inc. has partnered with Harper College to present the Books and Plays Club, a literature and live performance experience for individuals interested in reading and the theater.

Every semester, participants in the Book and Plays Club will read a book or a play. An instructor from Harper College will lead the reading and discussion of the work, in class each week.  For our first offering, students will be reading Romeo and Juliet (paperback, No Fear Shakespeare). A copy of the book will be provided and distributed to each student, at the first class. The students will attend a performance of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, at Oakton Community College, on Thursday, March 13th, in addition to meeting with the director of the play at an earlier class. The course will culminate in a final class where the text and the stage performance are compared. New texts, performances and experiences will be offered each semester.

We are excited to be collaborating on this unique program with our partners at Harper College.  Community partnerships like the Book and Plays Club provide the people we serve with important opportunities to meet peers, share common interests and learn from a postsecondary educator, in a community setting that is both supportive and intellectually stimulating. 

Search, Inc. would like to thank Linda Hoeck, Harper College Career Skills Institute Coordinator and Scott Cashman, Manager of the Harper College Continuing Education Personal and Cultural Enrichment Department. Their dedication and enthusiasm have been essential to bringing this new, innovative program to life. 

For more information about the Books and Plays Club, or to register for the upcoming semester, please contact Nick Larson at 773-305-5000 ext. 54 or email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..