Chicago’s Saint Sebastian Players presents the world premiere of The Shady Lady, a corporate satire by Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department alum Kara Poe Atnip ’08, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Acting. The show runs May 5 through 22 at St. Bonaventure, 1625 W. Diversey, in Chicago’s Belmont Theatre District. The comedy, which Atnip co-wrote with Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend, concerns an Oregon gubernatorial candidate whose campaign is threatened by her husband’s criminal financial shenanigans. To celebrate its world premiere of a Columbia College alum’s play, the Saint Sebastian Players are offering a special $15 student discount admission to Columbia College students. (Student ID required at door.) For tickets and more information, click here.

Atnip, who now lives in Sydney, Australia, is returning to Chicago for her play’s premiere run, with plans to attend the May 22 closing performance. “I cut my acting teeth in the Getz Theatre building, and have fond memories of my time spent there,” Atnip recalls of her days as a student at the Columbia College Theatre Department, which is housed in the historic Getz Theatre Center in Chicago’s South Loop. “I even discovered my love of playwriting there – we were given monologue writing assignments in an Acting II class that were then performed by our fellow students in the class. There was always an air of competition but this broke down our barriers to make something truly collaborative. I loved watching how the actors would interpret my words or jokes or liven the text in a way that I wouldn’t have thought of myself.”