Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department alumni are bringing new plays to life in Bechdel Fest 7: Momentum, Broken Nose Theatre‘s seventh annual feminist festival of new short plays featuring an ensemble of female-identifying and non-binary actors talking about things other than men. Bechdel Fest 7 runs August 25 through 28 at Steppenwolf Theatre’s intimate, flexible 1700 Theatre, located at 1700 N. Halsted, in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood.
The festival features a new play by Columbia College alum Michael Allen Harris ’11, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s Acting program. Titled Planned Sisterhood, the one-act is set in a southern state where abortion has just been outlawed, and concerns the wife of a prominent politician who seeks help from a woman who runs a clandestine health clinic. The play’s cast includes Columbia College alum RjW Mays ’06, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Acting. Mays is a Broken Nose Theatre company member, and Harris is a resident playwright with the company.
Two other plays in the festival are directed by Columbia College alums. Distinguished Alumni of the Stanton School, in which the annual fundraising dinner for a prestigious all-girls school is disrupted when one of the school’s “unsuccessful” alumni starts speaking her mind, is directed by Columbia College alum Alison Dornheggen ’01, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s Acting BA Program.
And harderfasterharderfaster, about a horny teenager’s journey deep into her own personal dreamscape in search of satisfaction, is directed by Columbia College alum Madisen Dempsey ’17, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s Theatre Directing program.
Broken Nose Theatre is dedicated to developing and producing new works that seek to cultivate empathy, spark conversation, and amplify underrepresented voices. The company’s managing director is Columbia College alum Rose Hamill ’16, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Theatre Technology with a Teaching Artist Minor and a Live and Performing Arts Management Minor. The company’s members also include Columbia College alum Devon Green ’18, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Theatre Design.
Tickets to Bechdel Fest 7 — and to all Broken Nose Theatre productions — are available on a “pay-what-you-can” basis, allowing patrons to set their own price and ensuring theatre remains economically accessible for all audiences. For tickets, call 312-335-1650 or click here.
