Brittney Love Smith
Alumni of the Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department‘s Bachelor of Arts in Acting major are featured in several new productions opening on local stages in the coming month. Alumna BrittneyLove Smith plays the lead role in Xtigone, a contemporary reimagining of the ancient Greek tragedy Antigone. The show is presented by the innovative Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble. In this new work by noted Chicago actor-playwright Nambi E. Kelley, Xtigone is a young woman whose brothers have been killed by each other’s rival gangs. When the city’s mayor tries to cover up the truth of violence in Chicago’s street, Xtigone must go up against the powerful mayor, who also happens to be her uncle.
Kevin Hope
Johnathan Wallace
Xtigone opens Friday, May 15, and runs through June 14 at Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble’s space in the Ebenezer Lutheran Church auditorium, 1650 W. Foster, Chicago. Also in the cast are Columbia Theatre student Kevin Hope and Johnathan Wallace. For tickets, click here or call 773-486-8261.
Jess Godwin (left) in “Shining Lives”
Jess Godwin, a Columbia College Theatre alumna and also a teacher in the Theatre Department’s Theatre Foundation Course program, is featured in the world premiere of Shining Lives: A Musical, running May 8-June 14 at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd., in north suburban Skokie. Set in 1922, the musical–based on a true story–concerns a group of young women who earn their livings painting watch dials, until they learn that the so-called “harmless” radium in the paint is deadly dangerous. For ticket information, click here or call 847-673-6300.
Joseph Stearns
Alumnus Joseph Stearns is featured in the world premiere of The White Road, running May 8-June 13 at the Den Theatre, 1333 N. Milwaukee, in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. Presented by the Irish Theatre of Chicago, The White Road chronicles the true story of explorer Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated attempt to cross Antarctica from sea to sea–on foot. For tickets, call 866-811-4111 or click here.
Emma Ladji
Alumna Emma Ladji is featured in AstonRep Theatre Company‘s production of Christopher Hampton’s drama Les Liaisons Dangereuses, running May 21-June 21 at Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark, Chicago. In this production, the story, originally set in 18th-century France, is reset in 1917 Russia on the eve of the Russian Revolution. For tickets, click here or call 773-828-9129.
