Jen Albert
Congratulations to Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department alum Jen Albert ’97, winner of a 2020 Ovation Award from the LA Stage Alliance, a non-profit arts service organization dedicated to building awareness, appreciation, and support for the performing arts in Greater Los Angeles. Albert, who works extensively in film and television as an actor, fight director, and motion capture artist, was honored in the category of Fight Direction for her combat staging for Sucker Punch, a June 2019 West Coast premiere by Los Angeles’ Coeurage Theatre Company.
Michael A. Shepperd
The site-specific production, directed by former Columbia College Theatre Department student Michael A. Shepperd, focused on two rivals in a London boxing gym. “Sucker Punch consistently hits its target under the uber-tensioned, fast-paced direction of Michael A. Shepperd,” raved the critic for BroadwayWorld Los Angeles, adding, “No visuals of any bleeding. Just very effective punches thrown, dodged and felt.”
Jen Albert
Albert previously won a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle award for Fight Choreography for the School of Night’s production of Punch and Judy at the 2016 Hollywood Fringe Festival.
