A panel of Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department alumni and former faculty – including Tony Award-winning Broadway director David Cromer – will participate in a free Zoom discussion of the work of staging and performing intimate scenes in theatre and film, a field that is rapidly growing as more focus is given to safe and consent-based production practices. The panel, “Intimacy for Stage and Screen,” takes place on Wednesday, June 21, from 6 to 8 PM CST. While the virtual event is free, registration is required to receive a Zoom link for the event. To register, click here.

The event, presented by the Columbia College Chicago Office of Development and Alumni Relations, offers the opportunity to learn from and engage with theatre practitioners, intimacy coordinators, and intimacy choreographers who are pushing boundaries of this new field in film, TV, and live performance. Those interested in the field are also invited to explore Columbia’s new Intimacy for Stage and Screen Certificate program, which offers an in-depth, year-long education in coordination, choreography, and advocacy for theatrical intimacy and performance. This one-year, 16-credit graduate certificate program is currently accepting students for fall and is designed to empower artists with industry best practices for the safe, ethical, inclusive, and effective staging of intimacy, nudity, and sexual violence for both stage and screen. Columbia is currently admitting the first group to the Intimacy for Stage and Screen Certificate program. Interested students can apply HERE.

Alumni, please join the Alumni Network to attend this event. Not a member? Click here to join today. It’s FREE and super easy!

The alumni panelists for the June 21 event include:

David Cromer HDR ’17, a former student and faculty member at the Columbia College Theatre Department and recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Columbia College in 2017. As previously reported in this blog, Cromer, a director and actor with extensive credits on and off Broadway as well as in Chicago and American regional theatre, won the 2018 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for directing the Broadway hit The Band’s Visit. Cromer is based in New York City.

Orion Barnes ‘97, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Acting with a focus in stage combat, is an instructor of stage combat and intimacy choreography at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles and a founding member of Sword Fights, Inc., a full team of sword fight stunt performers for battle reenactments and stunt work.

Sheryl Williams ’20, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Musical Theatre with a Minor in Stage Combat, is a fight choreographer/intimacy consultant based in Chicago, where she has worked with such companies as Court Theatre, Porchlight Music Theatre, Music Theatre Works, Free Street Theatre, and Jackalope.

Bessie Zolno ‘20, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Musical Theatre with a Minor in Stage Combat, is a mental health-informed violence and intimacy choreographer and performer based in Tel Aviv, Israel, and the San Francisco Bay Area, where she helps create collaborative and consent-driven spaces.

The panel’s moderator is Columbia College alum Khanisha Foster ’02, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Acting. Foster is an actor, director, writer, and solo performer based in Los Angeles.

“Intimacy for Stage and Screen” takes place on Wednesday, June 21, from 6 to 8 PM CST. While the virtual event is free, registration is required to receive a Zoom link for the event. To register, click here.

Alumni, please join the Alumni Network to attend this event. Not a member? Click here to join today. It’s FREE and super easy!