Jackalope Theatre, a company founded and led by alumni and former students of the Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department, hosts a family-friendly “Jackalope Theatre Block Party” on Saturday, September 30, as part of the Andersonville Arts Weekend in Chicago’s north-side Andersonville neighborhood. From 3 to 8 PM, on Catalpa between Clark and Ashland, the company will host games and all-ages activities, beer and wine vendors, and performers. There is a $5 suggested donation for entrance. To make an advance reservation, click here.

The lineup so far includes a special edition of Good Evening With Pat Whalen, hosted by Columbia College alum Pat Whalen ’10, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Acting and a Jackalope company member. Described as “Chicago’s only late-night talk-show news-alternative,” Good Evening with Pat Whalen combines civic and state-wide issues discussion with a comedic format.

Jackalope has also announced that it has found a new home at the Loyola Park fieldhouse, according to a report in the Chicago Reader. The new venue, located at 1230 W. Greenleaf in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood, will host Jackalope’s rehearsal space and offices as well as “community events.” In a statement on its website, Jackalope says, “We’ll be announcing our education and performance programming for our 2023-2024 16th season soon.” As previously reported in this blog, Jackalope was forced to temporarily move out of its home base in Broadway Armory Park, another Chicago Park District site in Chicago’s north-side Edgewater neighborhood, in order to make room for newly arrived migrant asylum-seekers.

Jackalope’s artistic director is Columbia College alum Kaiser Ahmed ’08, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s Theatre Directing program, who cofounded the company in 2008 with Columbia College Theatre Directing program alum AJ Ware ’09 and former Theatre Department students Gus Menary and Andrew Burden Swanson.