15 young Australians are set to hit the stage at the World Festival of Theatre for Children in Canada at the beginning of June.

A group from Adelaide’s northern suburbs – an area often maligned and ostracised – fly to Ontario in Canada next month to represent Australia in the World Festival of Theatre for Children, performing their wholly original work, A Kid like Me. For many it will be the first time they will have left the State, for others the first time they’ve left the country, but for them all it’s set to be a journey of a life time.

The biannual Festival, which originated in Germany in 1990, invites participants from all over the world to take part. The mandate is to bring the world’s young people together to share each other’s stories and culture through theatre. Whether it’s an adaption of Pinocchio or a new take on Shakespeare, raw dance works or storytelling by the deaf, audiences will see the world through the eyes of children and experience stories that children feel should and must be told.

This year 22 troupes from six continents and 20 countries will offer an illuminating array of artistic expression and...