Marvin Quijada

Rinska Carrasco-Prestinary

Jon Martinez

Congratulations to the Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department alums who have been nominated for the inaugural ALTA Awards by the Alliance of Latinx Theater Artists of Chicago (ALTA). ALTA is a volunteering service organization dedicated to furthering the Chicago Latinx Theater movement by promoting, educating, representing, and unifying Latinx identified artists and their allies. The ALTA Awards are a new annual award established to acknowledge the outstanding work of Latinx-theatre makers and producing companies in the Chicagoland area. Nominees for 2017-18 ALTA Awards include alumnus Marvin Quijada ’05, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Acting; Rinska Carrasco-Prestinary ’10, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Theatre; and Jon Martinez, a former student in the Theatre Department’s Musical Theatre Program.

Quijada is nominated for Outstanding Performer in a Sketch or Review for Sound + Fury: A Night of Electronic Storytelling, which played in April at Steppenwolf Theatre’s 1700 Theatre, as well as for as well as for Outstanding Artistic Specialization–Electronic Storytelling, also for Sound + Fury. Carrasco-Prestinary is nominated for Outstanding Director of a Production–Play for Halcyon Theatre’s The River Bride. And Martinez is nominated for Outstanding Director of a Production–Musical for The Church of Modern Love (produced by With a Machete Productions in association with Haven Theatre) and for Outstanding Choreography for two shows: American Blues Theatre’s Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story and Circle Theatre Chicago’s The View Upstairs, which is also nominated for Outstanding Production–Musical. The winners will be announced October 8 in a ceremony at Victory Gardens Theatre, 2433 N. Lincoln, in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood.