Columbia College Theatre Alumni and Faculty Highlighted in List of Chicago Theatre Leaders–‘Players 2016: The Fifty People Who Really Perform for Chicago’

Posted by Albert Williams

Chicago’s Newcity newspaper and website has released its annual listing of Chicago theatre’s top artists and practitioners, and Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department alumni and faculty members figure prominently. The article — “Players 2016: The Fifty People Who Really Perform for Chicago” — was published in Newcity‘s January 14, 2016, issue. Among those listed:

Anna D. Shapiro

alumna Anna D. Shapiro (BA ’90), artistic director and ensemble member of Steppenwolf Theatre as well as a Tony Award-winning Broadway director (August: Osage County) and a directing teacher at Northwestern University’s Theatre Department. A 1990 graduate of Columbia College, Shapiro also received an honorary Doctorate of Arts from Columbia in May 2015 and spoke at the commencement ceremony for Theatre graduates;

Joanie Schultz

alumna and faculty member Joanie Schultz (BA ’00), a graduate of the Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department’s theatre directing program, associate artistic producer at Victory Gardens Theater, and an ensemble member of Steep Theatre. After graduating from Columbia College, Schultz received her MFA in Directing from Northwestern University, where she was mentored by Anna Shapiro;

Gus Menary
alumnus Gus Menary, artistic director and co-founder of Jackalope Theatre, which was founded by Columbia College theatre majors as part of a class project and has since established itself at the forefront of Chicago’s innovative storefront theatre scene;