Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department faculty members Andra Velis Simon and Heather Gilbert are the musical director and lighting designer, respectively, for re-imagined versions of classic Gilbert and Sullivan operettas this fall at two of the United States’ leading regional theatres. Both productions are the work of The Hypocrites, a cutting-edge Chicago ensemble.

The Hypocrites’ adaptation of Pirates of Penzance runs October 16-December 10 at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California. For tickets, call 510-647-2949 or click here.

The Hypocrites’ H.M.S. Pinafore will play November 17-December 13 at the Actors Theater of Louisville in Kentucky, where The Hypocrites’ Pirates of Penzance played last season. The cast of Pinafore includes Lauren Vogel, a senior in the Columbia College Theatre Department’s BA Program in Musical Theatre, as well as Erik Schroeder, a teacher in Columbia’s Business & Entrepreneurship Department. The production’s stage manager is Gabby Welsh (BA ’14), a graduate of the Theatre Department’s technical theatre program. For tickets, click here.

Both Gilbert and Sullivan shows are directed by Sean Graney, a former Theatre Department faculty member and founder/artistic director of The Hypocrites.