Otherworld Theatre Company, an ensemble founded and led by Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department alumni, presents its 6th Annual Juggernaut Film Festival, a two-day celebration of science fiction and fantasy films and filmmakers from around the world. The festival takes place at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport, Chicago.

This year’s festival is hosted by Gates McFadden, famed for playing Dr. Beverly Crusher in the iconic TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation. McFadden’s other contributions to the science fiction and fantasy genre include choreographing the Jim Henson films Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, and Muppets Take Manhattan.

Otherworld Theatre Company was founded in 2012 by Columbia College alum Tiffany Keane Schaefer ’12, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s Theatre Directing program, with a mission to bring a theatrical experience to the science fiction and fantasy genre. Other Columbia College alums on the Otherworld crew include development director Dylan Schaefer ’12, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Acting; distribution coordinator Grace Gimpel ’12, a graduate of Columbia’s BA Program in Musical Theatre; and artistic ensemble member Kai Young ’12, a graduate of Columbia’s Acting BA program. The artistic ensemble also includes former Columbia College student Bennett Decker Bottero. In 2016, Otherworld Theatre was named “Best New Theatre” in the Chicago Reader newspaper’s “Best of Chicago” readers’ poll.

Otherworld recently announced that it has taken over the former Live Bait Theatre/Public House space at 3914 N. Clark St. in Chicago, intending to make the space “the world’s first theatre space dedicated to science fiction and fantasy performance.”

For a complete schedule of screenings and events at Juggernaut, click here. The two-day event includes a live performance by Improvised Star Trek, a company devoted to exploring strange new worlds of comedy within the universe of Star Trek, both as a podcast and on the stage.