The Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department proudly congratulates the alumni, faculty, and current and former students of the Theatre Department, the Columbia College Chicago Music Department, and the Columbia College Chicago Cinema and Television Arts Department who won 2019 Joseph Jefferson Awards at the Jeff Awards’ annual ceremony on June 3. The Non-Equity Jeff Awards honor excellence in Chicago’s non-Equity theatre. This year’s list of winners includes:

Director–Play:

Cinema and Television Arts Department faculty member John Mossman, for his direction of Requiem for a Heavyweight (The Artistic Home). Requiem for a Heavyweight was also honored in the top category of Production–Play.

Ensemble:

The cast of Plainclothes (Broken Nose Theatre), including Columbia College alums RjW Mays ’06 and Alison Dornheggen ’01, both graduates of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Acting.

Sound Design:

Columbia College Music Department alum and faculty member Petter Wahlbäck ’00, MFA ’08, a graduate of the Music Department’s BA Program in Music Composition and MFA Program in Music Composition for the Screen, for Requiem for a Heavyweight (The Artistic Home).

Projection Design:

Columbia College alum Paul Deziel ’14, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s Technical Theatre program, for his design for Tilikum (Sideshow Theatre Company).

Artistic Specialization:

Columbia College alum Sam Hubbard ’12, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s Acting program, for his Violence and Intimacy Direction for Yen (Raven Theatre).

New Play:

Columbia College Theatre Department resident playwright Kristiana Rae Colón, for Tilikum (Sideshow Theatre Company). Tilikum tied for the New Play award with The Gentleman Caller, by Philip Dawkins, which was directed in its world premiere at Raven Theatre by Raven’s artistic director, Columbia College alumnus Cody Estle ’11, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s Theatre Directing program. Dawkins’ play Failure: A Love Story will be presented as part of the Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department’s 2019-2020 Mainstage Season.

Also, as previously reported in this blog, Chicago’s cutting-edge Trap Door Theatre, whose managing director is Columbia College alum Nicole Wiesner ’00, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Acting, received a 2019 Non-Equity Special Award from the Joseph Jefferson Awards Committee to honor the company’s endeavors in opening a magical door to an evocative and surreal world over the last 25 years.