Jay Españo

Terry McCabe

Columbia College Chicago alum Jay Españo MFA ’16 – a graduate of the college’s MFA program in film directing and recipient of a Graduate Certificate in Laban Movement Analysis from Columbia College’s Dance Movement Therapy program — directs the world premiere of Aztec Human Sacrifice, a musical comedy by Kingsley Day and Philip LaZebnik. The show runs May 5 through June 18 at City Lit Theatre, located at 1020 W. Bryn Mawr in Chicago’s vibrant Edgewater Andersonville Theatre District. For tickets, click here. City Lit’s artistic director is former Columbia College Theatre Department faculty member Terry McCabe. Españo is artistic director of Chicago’s PrideArts theatre company.

The show is set the night before the beginning of the Aztec empire’s new millennium, and the Chosen One – so named because he is to be sacrificed in order to make the sun rise next morning – has run off with the Emperor’s daughter. If he is not found, the sun will not rise and the world will end.

Co-authors Kingsley Day and Philip LaZebnik’s other musicals include State Street, which received its world premiere in 1989 at the Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department. LaZebnik is also the author of the screenplays for Pocahontas, Mulan, The Prince of Egypt, and other films.