Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department alums and students are participating in Headline Theatre Project: Winter Is Coming Edition, a one-night showcase of new plays inspired by current events, on Saturday, October 21, at 8 PM at The Frontier, Jackalope Theatre‘s storefront performance space at 1106 W. Thorndale in Chicago’s Edgewater Theatre District.

Courtney Eathorne

Cassandra Rose

Danielle Lynch

Arianna Soloway

Participating playwrights include Columbia College Theatre Department alum Courtney Eathorne ’17, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Writing for Performance;  Cassandra Rose ’10, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s Playwriting program; and current Columbia College Theatre Department student Danielle Lynch, a senior in the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Musical Theatre with a Minor in American Sign Language Studies and a Minor in Arts Management. Headline’s editor in chief is Columbia alum Arianna Soloway ’13, a graduate of Columbia College Chicago’s BFA Program in Theatre Directing.

“Our mission is to create and perform brand new works of theatre based on major political events as immediately as possible,” says a statement from the Headline Theatre Project. “We use our words, our voices, and our bodies to create theatre pieces in response to these events to inspire conversation, incite activism, and hold the political world accountable for its actions. . . . Our festivals give artists and audience alike a chance to come together, work through their thoughts on current issues, and speak their truth. We pair each festival with a charitable organization whose mission relates to current events, with 100% of the proceeds going directly to that organization.”

There is a $10 suggested donation. All proceeds from the October 21 event will go to the Hispanic Federation disaster relief fund to benefit hurricane relief in Puerto Rico.

The event actually begins on Friday October 20, when a group of artists will come together to discuss the current political climate. Over the next 24 hours, these artists will turn those ideas into the plays they will perform on October 21.