The Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department, located at 72 E. 11th Street in Chicago’s South Loop, will host a day of free performances and exhibits on Friday, May 12, as part of Columbia College Chicago‘s 17th annual Manifest Urban Arts Festival. The Columbia College Chicago Theatre Center will showcase performances by students in the Acting, Musical Theatre, Comedy Writing & Performance, Stage Combat, and Playwriting/Writing for Performance BA and BFA programs. In addition, there will be an exhibition of work by students in the Theatre Design, Theatre Technology, and Theatre Directing BA and BFA programs.
Manifest features dozens of performances, screenings, gallery exhibitions, fashion shows, and literary readings by undergraduate and graduate students completing their final semester. All events are free and open to the public. For a complete Manifest schedule, click here.
The Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department has simultaneous events taking place in all four of the Columbia College Chicago Theatre Center‘s performance venues: the ground-floor Getz Theatre and Classic Studio Theatre, the lower-level Sheldon Patinkin Studio Theatre, and the fourth-floor Studio 404. Highlights of the Theatre Center’s Manifest schedule include:
Once on This Island — Getz Theatre, 1-2 PM: Performance highlights from the Theatre Department’s Fall 2016 Mainstage production of the musical Once on This Island.
Little Shop of Horrors — Sheldon Patinkin Studio Theatre, 2-3:15 PM: Performance highlights from the Theatre Department’s Spring 2017 Mainstage production of the rock musical Little Shop of Horrors.
Monologues with Bite — Classic Studio Theatre, 2-3:15 PM: Perilously personal solo performances written, devised, and performed By Columbia College Chicago Theatre students. Always raw, always personal.
Stage Combat Showcase — Getz Theatre, 2-3:15 PM: Stage combat scenes and theatrical violence: swords, knives, and fisticuffs.
Senior Showcase of Theatre Designers, Directors, and Technicians— Studio 404, 2-9 PM: Experience the creations of the Theatre Department’s talented design, stage management, theatre technology, and directing students. Works include set models, renderings, costumes, lighting, installations, and interactive process projects.
Foundations Creations — Manifest Main Lot, 1000 S. Wabash (around the corner from the Theatre Center), 2-2:30 PM: As part of the Manifest street festival, students in the Theatre Department’s immersive, interdisciplinary Theatre Foundations program will perform original devised D.I.M.E.S. pieces — Dynamic, Interesting, Meaningful, Exciting, Surprising!
Acting/Musical Theatre Senior Showcase — Getz Theatre, 3:30-4:45 PM: Seniors from the Acting and Musical Theatre Performance programs perform scenes and songs.
Cat Booty
Cat Booty Comedy — Classic Studio Theatre, 3:30-4:45 PM: The Columbia College Chicago comedy team Cat Booty, winners of the 2017 College Improv Tournament, perform their award-winning comedy.
Two Chairs and a Light Bulb — Sheldon Patinkin Studio Theatre, 3:30-4:45 PM: World premieres of eight student-written plays, all of them less than eight minutes long, with casts of three or less, and . . .
Musical Theatre Dance — Getz Theatre, 5:30-6:45 PM: Students from Musical Theatre Dance and Tap classes perform in a showcase of student choreography.
New Musicals — Sheldon Patinkin Studio Theatre, 5:30-6:45 PM: Original musical scenes, written by student composers and lyricists from the Theatre Department.
Another highlight of Manifest is the Manifest Alumni Party from 6 to 9 PM at 1001 S. State, just a block west of the Columbia College Theatre Center. Alumni are invited to hang out on the venue’s rooftop patio with city views and pumping music. Listen to sounds of the Manifest celebration below while connecting with fellow alums over food and drinks. Registration is required for the all-inclusive, three-hour alumni event.
Manifest takes place on Friday, May 12, on the Columbia College Chicago campus on South Wabash Avenue between 9th and 11th streets. The event is free and open to the public.
