Arianna Soloway

Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department alum Arianna Soloway (BFA ’13), a graduate of Columbia College Chicago’s BFA Program in Theatre Directing, recently contributed an essay to the theatre website HowlRound in which she discussed a common concern of young theatre practitioners: her struggle to self-define as an artist when she has a full-time non-theatre career. In her candid, thoughtful, and inspiring essay, “To Be a Director,” Soloway, who works full-time as a real-estate agent, wrote:

Rory Beckett and Tristin Hall in “Carrie & Francine.” (Photo: Jeffrey Bivens)

One of the productions Soloway refers to is Carrie & Francine, presented last fall by as part of “The Director’s Haven,” a showcase for emerging directors established by Chicago’s Haven Theatre Company, whose executive director and co-founder Carol Cohen studied Theatre Design at the Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department. The cast of Carrie & Francine featured Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department students Rory Beckett and Tristin Hall.