The Columbia College Chicago School of Theatre and Dance is proud to announce the creation of the Theatre Advisory Board composed of alumni and friends of the Theatre Program at Columbia College. With a mission to leverage the expertise of the Columbia College Theatre Program’s alumni and other industry members through strategic guidance, collaborative partnerships, and hands-on opportunities, the Columbia College Chicago Theatre Advisory Board aims to uplift the vibrant and innovative learning environment of Columbia’s Theatre Program for the students to thrive and excel at school and beyond. For more information about the Theatre Advisory Board and its activities – please click here.

The board’s first event will be a celebration of the life and legacy of the late director and teacher Sheldon Patinkin, longtime head of the Columbia College Theatre Program, on Saturday, September 21, the 10th anniversary of his death. A career biography of Patinkin is given below.

The Theatre Advisory Board is co-chaired by Columbia College alumni Victor Holstein ’04, a graduate of the BA Program in Acting, and Alex Rhyan ’15, a graduate of the BA Program in Theatre with a concentration in Technical Theatre. Advised by Dr. Jimmy Noriega, Interim Director of the School of Theatre and Dance, and Theatre Program faculty members Susan Padveen, Frances Maggio, and Paul Amandes, the Theatre Advisory Board is composed of theatre professionals working in Chicago and around the country – most, though not all, alumni of Columbia College Chicago. A full list of board members is given below.

As the board plans activities and collaborates with the Theatre Program, they will focus on three key areas: being a resource for students, enhancing our alumni network, and creating opportunities to give back to the Theatre Program. For more information about the Theatre Advisory Board and its activities – please click here.

In partnership with the Theatre Program of the Columbia College Chicago School of Theatre and Dance, the Theatre Advisory Board is excited to announce their inaugural event: Sheldon Patinkin: The Life, Laughs, and Legacy, a reception, panel discussion, and open forum to mark the 10th anniversary of the passing of beloved director and teacher of Sheldon Patinkin (Aug. 27, 1935-Sept. 21, 2014) and to celebrate the history and future of the Theatre Program that Patinkin chaired from 1980 to 2009. The event will take place at the Getz Theatre Center of Columbia College, located at 72 E 11th St. in Chicago’s South Loop, on Saturday, September 21, from 11 AM to 4 PM in the Sheldon Patinkin Theatre. The event will be an opportunity to hear about the future of the Theatre Program, take a tour of the building (which was extensively renovated in 2018), and – most important – share memories of Patinkin’s distinguished and influential career and how Columbia College is keeping his spirit alive with the Sheldon Patinkin Award, a fund that Patinkin established shortly before his death.

Sheldon Patinkin: The Life, Laughs, and Legacy on Saturday, September 21, is a free event. Contributions are gratefully accepted. To support the Theatre Program with a financial gift please visit this link and click on “See More Gift Options”  and select “Theatre” to ensure that your contribution is assisting the Theatre Program and its students.

Columbia College Chicago Theatre alumni, former faculty and students, and friends of the Theatre Program are invited to attend. Panelists and guest speakers will be announced in September. For more information about the Theatre Advisory Board and its activities – please click here.

The Theatre Advisory Board of Columbia College Chicago’s School of Theatre and Dance consists of professionals in the worlds of theatre, film, and television. These skilled creatives – most, though not all, alumni of Columbia College Chicago – are accomplished actors, writers, directors, designers, production managers, arts administrators, producers, and teachers.

Meet the Theatre Advisory Board:

Tyla Abercrumbie (she/her/hers) – Actor / Writer / Director; Columbia College Chicago – BA, Music, 1998

Tyla Abercrumbie is an actor, writer, and director. In the Chicago area, she has worked as an actor at Goodman, Court, Next, Northlight, TimeLine, and Chicago Shakespeare theatres. She has also worked at Florida’s Asolo Repertory Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Milwaukee Rep, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. Television credits include The Chi (recurring role), Proven Innocent, Chicago P.D., Chicago Med, Shrink, Empire, Easy, The Mob Doctor, Detroit 1-8-7, and The Chicago Code. This fall she joins the cast of the new CBS TV series NCIS: Origins, which debuts in the 2024-2025 broadcast season. Tyla is also an accomplished playwright. Her drama Relentless premiered in 2022 at Chicago’s TimeLine Theatre, where she is a company member, and then transferred to the Goodman Theatre for an extended run. The play received a Joseph Jefferson Award for New Work and the Black Theatre Alliance/Ira Aldridge Awards’ Lorraine Hansberry Award for Writing of a Play.

Kaiser Ahmed (he/him/his) – Director / Producer / Teacher / Actor – Chicago, IL – Columbia College Chicago – BA, Theatre Directing, 2008

Kaiser Ahmed is a Bangladeshi-American theatre director, producer, teacher, and actor. As a co-founder of Chicago’s Jackalope Theatre Company, he served as Jackalope’s artistic director from 2008 to 2012, continued to contribute as associate artistic director until 2019, and returned to the position of artistic director in 2020. He has been integral to every production in the company’s 14-year history. He was a 2015-16 Eugene O’Neill National Directors Fellowship Finalist and a recipient of the 2016-17 Victory Gardens Directors Inclusion Initiative. Kaiser is also an associate member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a member of the Siddons Artistic Council of Chicago’s Sarah Siddons Society, and an Eagle Scout, and is fluent in Bengali.

Orion Barnes (he/him/his) – Stage Combat / Intimacy Director / Former Talent Agent – North Hollywood, CA – Columbia College Chicago – BA, Acting, 1997

Orion Barnes, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Acting with a focus in stage combat, is currently the head of Stage Combat and Intimacy Direction at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (Los Angeles campus). He is also the Intimacy Director at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Los Angeles. Since receiving his BA in Acting from Columbia College Chicago, he has been choreographing, teaching, and performing stage combat and theatrical intimacy for more than 25 years. He has also taught fencing to children and young adults at studios in New York, Boston, and Los Angeles. Orion believes in a consent-based approach to intimacy and stage combat and that actors of every shape, size, and skill level must have a solid foundation in both. His intimacy training experience includes Theatrical Intimacy Education and Intimacy Directors and Coordinators (Certified Consent-Forward Artist). He is certified in both Adult and Youth Mental Health First Aid. In addition to the many projects, shows, and scenes he has coordinated for college productions and summer camps, he has also built fights for East West Players, The Group Rep, New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, and Oak Park Shakespeare Festival. He appears in several high-profile film, television, and stage projects and has trained A-List celebrities (including Natalie Portman, Anne Hathaway, Chris Pine, Sandra Bullock, and Sir Ben Kingsley) for film and television. He is a founding member of Sword Fights Inc., a full team of sword fight stunt performers for battle reenactments and stunt work, and former talent agent/owner at Rogers Orion Talent Agency in Los Angeles. Orion would like to thank Sword Fights Inc., Columbia College, David Woolley, and Sheldon Patinkin for setting on the path to his life’s work of keeping actors safe, both physically and emotionally.

“My Mentor-Instructors absolutely put me on the path to my own personal ‘dream job’ and my years in Chicago were some of the best of my life.  I will always want to pay that forward.” – Orion Barnes

Victor Holstein (he/him/his) – Actor / Producer – Chicago, IL – Columbia College Chicago – BA, Acting, 2004

Since graduating from Columbia College Chicago in 2004, Victor Holstein has split his time between Los Angeles and Chicago, acting in theatre, film, and TV. In that time, he has worked for Little Fish Theatre, Metropolis Performing Arts Centre, About Face Theatre, Redmoon Theatre, First Folio Theatre, Windy City Playhouse, Timeline Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Court Theatre, NBC, ABC, Comedy Central, IFC, Nickelodeon, and Sony Pictures, among others. Recent credits include Chicago P.D. (TV), The King and I (Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace), Adventure Tom (feature film), Southern Gothic (Windy City Playhouse), and as the spirit of Elvis Presley in Terry Hesser’s Christmas with Elvis, directed by Dexter Bullard (Chopin Theatre, Chicago). Victor has also produced two feature films, two short films, the sci-fi web-series Halliday, and two plays, including the hit immersive show Incomplete Conversations. In the early 2000s, he also worked as a set production assistant on various prime-time TV shows in Los Angeles, including NBC’s Las Vegas. He’s also freelanced as an editor, boom operator, second assistant director, camera assistant, camera operator, and stand-in, and has worked background on a variety of productions.

“Since I graduated (which is now 20 years ago!), I have wanted to try and get involved with the Theatre Program in some way to have a positive influence on the people who used to be in my shoes. This industry can be near impossible to navigate and whatever progress I’ve managed to make, I would love to pass that along. I believe this board has the potential to do that.” – Victor Holstein

Almanya Narula (she/her/hers) – Actor / Writer / Fight Choreographer / Theatre / Film Maker – Valley Village, CA – Columbia College Chicago – BA in Acting and Advanced Management with Minors in Voiceover and Stage Combat, 2016

Almanya Narula is an award-winning Indian-Thai actor, writer, and fight choreographer. She started her career in the entertainment industry as a child actor in various Bollywood media. During and after her time as a Columbia College theatre student, she was active in the Chicago theatre industry collaborating with several award-winning productions and theatre companies. Recent theatre credits include: Chicago – POTUS (Steppenwolf Theatre), Teenage Dick and The Whistleblower (Theatre Wit), Mosquitoes (Steep Theatre); Regional – Dial M for Murder (TheatreSquared); Off Broadway – Noor Inayat Khan: The Forgotten Spy. Film: Pandaal, The Ushers. Music Video: Feed the Machine (Nickelback). Select awards: , Soaring Solo Social Impact Award (2022 Hollywood Fringe Festival) and Best Actress (2023 United Solo Festival) – both for her one-woman play Noor Inayat Khan: The Forgotten Spy. She holds an MA in New Arts Journalism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago as well as a double BA in Acting and Advanced Management from Columbia College. She is also a 2022 graduate of the Stella Adler Studio of Acting professional conservatory and a member of the Society of American Fight Directors.

“As an immigrant, the Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department was vital to my growth as an artist – I am here to give, make and, ensure that the Theatre Program can be a safe haven for students for years to come.” – Almanya Narula

Savana Nix (she/her/hers) – Theatre and Film Wardrobe Artist / Non-Conforming Style Advocate – Chicago, IL

Savana Nix studied costume design for film, theatre, and fashion at Columbia College Chicago. She describes herself as “a multidimensional creative problem-solver,” adding: “I would describe my leadership style based on connection and community.” She has worked on a range of projects from Carnival Cruise Ship installations to touring with The Bridgeton Experience to helping Cirque Du Soleil create their new show in Nashville. Currently she is the costume director for Lookingglass Theatre Company for the 2024-2025 season. As she works within theatre, standing for inclusion, diversity, and change are at the forefront of her work.

“I am a Theatre Advisory Board Member to give back to a school that I am so proud to have gone to. I want to help lift up the next generation of costumers in theatre with advice, guidance, and of optimism.” – Savana Nix

Michaela Petro (she/her/hers) – Actor / Producer / Self-Defense Instructor – Chicago, IL

Michaela Petro is an actor, producer, and self-defense instructor who studied acting at Columbia College. She was a member of Strawdog Theatre Company’s artistic ensemble for 13 years and a member of Wildclaw Theatre Company for seven years. She has worked with Steppenwolf Theatre, Writers Theatre, Steep Theatre, Mary-Arrchie Theatre, The Chicago New Theatre Project, Interrobang Theatre Project, Lifeline Theatre, Haven Theatre, Cole Theatre, and Lakeside Shakespeare to name a few. Through her work, she has learned that without genuine connection, theatre cannot serve its community or empower its audience. In 2018, with the help of like-minded womxn, she began For Womxn, By Womxn, an inclusive, femme-focused self-defense program. She is currently developing a production entity, The Dark Room District, with her partner and long-time collaborator. They hope to create space for universal narratives where outcasts and perceived deviants are shown radical empathy.

“Columbia College Chicago gave me the tools required to pursue a dream. I’ve dedicated myself to Chicago by way of Columbia and I want to invite students to consider forming their own definitions of success.” – Michaela Petro

Alex Rhyan (he/him/his) – Stage Technician / Production Manager – Chicago, IL – Columbia College Chicago – BA, Technical Theatre, 2015

Alex Rhyan has freelanced as a technical director and production manager for more than a dozen Chicago theatre productions, including shows at American Theatre Company, About Face Theatre, Steep Theatre, Porchlight Music Theatre, and others. He had the opportunity to work alongside the leadership team at Windy City Playhouse as their first full-time production manager starting in 2016. He helped bring to life 11 productions including the Playhouse’s most acclaimed immersive production, Southern Gothic, which ran for more than 500 performances. In 2019 he became the production and operations director at Porchlight Music Theatre, where he was faced with collaborating in new ways during the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, Alex is back to freelancing as a stage technician and broadening his scope of work by working as an IATSE Union Local 2 hire on concerts, festivals, and conventions.

“I am honored that the college asked me to not only join the board but assist in leading its creation. I am excited to create a place so that we can share our industry insights, connect with the students and provide opportunities for alumni. The theatre community here in Chicago and around the nation needs ways to stay connected, learn from one another and help empower the next generation.” – Alex Rhyan

Cassandra Rose (she/her/hers) – Playwright / Screenwriter / Narrative Designer – Santa Monica, CA – Columbia College Chicago – BA, Playwriting, 2010

Cassandra Rose is proud to be a playwright, screenwriter, and narrative designer– often at the same time. Originally from Rockford, Illinois (go Peaches!), her sordid past includes growing up doing historical reenactment, giving tours in a science museum’s coal mine, and working in a literacy nonprofit. As a playwright, she followed up a BA in Playwriting at Columbia College Chicago with her self-produced The Dictionary Project, Chicago Dramatists’ Tutterow Fellowship (The Amen Trilogy), Stage Left Theatre’s Downstage Left Residency (The Volunteer), and Broken Nose Theatre’s The Paper Trail (Billy to His Friends). Most recently, a workshop production of the first part of her queer steampunk play, Skyflint, was part of Haven Chicago’s Director’s Haven 7.  As a screenwriter, she won the Scripted Digital Series award at the Austin Film Festival in 2022 with Walk Into a Bar. And as a narrative designer, she shipped three titles for the romance video game Chapters: Interactive Stories. Girl gets around. Cassandra is repped by Jacob Hayman at Citizen Skull. Find her at https://scriptsbyrose.carrd.co/

“I want to reach back and help make the Columbia College Chicago Theatre Program a dynamic and inviting place to cultivate the next generation of Chicago playwrights.” – Cassandra Rose

Joanie Schultz (she/her/hers) – Stage Director / Arts Leader / Teacher – Cincinnati, OH – Columbia College Chicago – BA, Theatre Directing, 2000

Joanie Schultz is a teacher, arts leader, and director of theatre and opera. She currently serves as associate artistic director of Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park in Ohio. Joanie’s credits include directing for Goodman, Steppenwolf, and Victory Gardens theatres in Chicago, the Cleveland Play House, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C., and at least 30 other theatre and opera companies throughout Chicago and the U.S. She served as artistic director of WaterTower Theatre in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, in 2017-2018, and in 2014-2016 served as associate artistic producer at Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago. Joanie holds an MFA in directing from Northwestern University and a BA in directing from Columbia College Chicago. She was a Drama League Fellow, the Goodman Theatre’s Michael Maggio Directing Fellow, a Lincoln Center Theatre Directors Lab participant, and 2013 co-artistic curator for the Theatre on the Lake in Chicago, where she was also co-artistic director of Estrogen Fest, associate artistic director of The Building Stage, and co-founder/artistic director of Flush Puppy Productions. She is an ensemble member at Chicago’s Steep Theatre and an artistic cabinet member at Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C. She has served on the Theatre faculty of Columbia College Chicago and the University of Chicago and the opera faculty of Roosevelt University (Chicago) and Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois) and has taught for The School at Steppenwolf, Steep Theatre, the Audition Studio, and Italian Operatic Experience. She is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, the American Guild of Musical Artists, and The Dramatists Guild.

“Columbia College has been a big part of my life and I want to continue to contribute and participate in its future.” – Joanie Schultz

J. Cody Spellman (he/him/his) – Director / Producer – Pittsburgh, PA – Columbia College Chicago – BA, Theatre Directing, 2013

J. Cody Spellman is a director for theatre and film currently residing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He has directed and production-managed theatre, special events, and film throughout the country for over a decade and served as the artistic director of Throughline Theatre Company from 2022 to 2024. Notable directing credits include A Moon for the Misbegotten (Quantum Theatre Company), Uncle Vanya, A View from the Bridge (Throughline Theatre Company), The Miseducation of 55th Street (The Revival Comedy Theater), Kaitlin (The Frontier Theatre), Burn (Mercy Street Theatre Company), Public Parts, Bury the Ratchet (The Second City), #MATTER (Jackalope Theatre Company), The Blue Room (Stage 773), Waiting for Grimace (The Neapolitans Theatre Company), The Pillowman, The Glory of Living (Columbia College Chicago), Deathtrap (Little Lake Theatre), and Everybody (Theatre Factory). His latest film, The Circle Children, is currently on the festival circuit. For more information, visit jcodyspellman.com and follow jcspells on Instagram.

“Columbia College Chicago Theatre Program shaped me into who I am today, and I want to support its future in any way I can.” – J. Cody Spellman

Michael Stahl-David (he/him/his) – Actor / Director – Brooklyn, NY – Columbia College Chicago – BA, Acting, 2005

Michael Stahl-David is known for his lead performance as Rob Hawkins in the sci-fi/horror movie cult classic Cloverfield and for his portrayal of American political icon Robert F. Kennedy in Rob Reiner’s 2017 film LBJ opposite Woody Harrelson as President Lyndon B. Johnson. His TV credits include The Good Wife, Numb3rs, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The Black Donnellys, Good Sam, Netflix’s Narcos, and the HBO miniseries Show Me a Hero. He also co-wrote, co-directed, and starred in the 2008 TV series Michael Stahl-David: Behind the Star in collaboration with his fellow Columbia College Theatre alums Jeremy Beiler, Brian Shaw, Bill Hoffman, and Victor Holstein, featuring appearances by Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble members Terry Kinney and Austin Pendleton and Cloverfield producer J.J. Abrams. Michael’s extensive stage credits include roles at the Goodman, Steppenwolf, Victory Gardens, Famous Door, Eclipse, and About Face theatres in Chicago and the Manhattan Theatre Club and Public Theatre in New York. His movie Blood Knot is in post-production and he is currently shooting the feature Down to the Felt. He is a graduate of The School at Steppenwolf.

Regina Taylor (she/her/hers) – Actor / Writer / Director / Educator – Chicago, IL – Columbia College Chicago – Honorary Doctorate of Arts, 2011

Regina Taylor is an actor, director, playwright, educator, and activist. She currently serves as the playwright-in-residence at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, a three-year appointment through the National Playwright Residency Program established by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and HowlRound Theatre Commons. Playwriting credits include Bread (Edgerton Award, WaterTower Theatre), Crowns (four Helen Hayes Awards, including Best Director), Oo-Bla-Dee (Steinberg-ATCA award), Drowning Crow (Broadway, Manhattan Theatre Club), The Trinity River Plays (Edgerton Foundation Award), and stop.reset (Signature Theater Residency Five). She served as the Denzel Washington Endowed Chair in Theatre at Fordham University at Lincoln Center in 2017. As an artistic associate of Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, Taylor is Goodman’s most-produced playwright. Her numerous television acting credits include the role of Lily Harper in NBC’s acclaimed 1991-1993 series I’ll Fly Away, for which she received a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress, three NAACP Image Awards, and two Emmy Award nominations. Other TV credits include Showtime’s The First Lady, in which she played Michelle Obama’s mother Marian Shields Robinson; HBO’s Lovecraft Country; Netflix’s All Day and a Night; NBC’s Law & Order; and CBS’ The Education of Max Bickford, The Red Line, The Good Fight, and The Unit (created by David Mamet), for which she won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, as well as the miniseries Children of the Dust, starring Sidney Poitier. She starred as Anita Hill in Showtime’s Strange Justice and in the title role of the Masterpiece Theatre drama Cora Unashamed, based on a story by Langston Hughes. Feature film credits include Spike Lee’s Clockers, Courage Under Fire starring Denzel Washington, The Negotiator starring Samuel L. Jackson, and Lean on Me. In 1986 she was the first Black woman to play Shakespeare’s Juliet on Broadway in Joseph Papp’s production of Romeo and Juliet directed by Estelle Parsons.

“To be in the conversation of the questions and solutions of student and faculty life.” – Regina Taylor

John Zuiker (he/him/his) – Art Director – Los Angeles, CA – Columbia College Chicago – BA, Theatre Design, 2005

John Zuiker is a five-time Emmy Award-nominated art director working in the field of live/variety television. His credits include such awards shows as The Oscars, Golden Globe Awards, Grammy Awards, Billboard Music Awards, BET Awards, Academy of Country Music Awards, and MTV Video Music Awards, as well as The Voice, America’s Got Talent, American Song Contest, Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special, and Norman Lear: 100 Years of Music & Laughter. He got his start in Chicago’s storefront theatre scene after graduating from Columbia College Chicago. Among the many productions he designed in Chicago was the Bohemian Theater Ensemble’s production of I Am My Own Wife, for which he received a Joseph Jefferson Award for scenic design. He also holds an MFA from Carnegie Mellon University is a proud member of the Art Directors Guild, Local 800.

“I wanted to give back to a place that gave me so much.  My time at Columbia was so formative, and I hope to be able to help future students in their quests to spread their wings and dream big.” – John Zuiker

Sheldon Patinkin – longtime chair of the Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department, noted director and teacher, and cherished friend and mentor to thousands of performers, directors and creative spirits in the Chicago theatre community – was born August 27, 1935, in Chicago. Sheldon Patinkin was chair of the Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department (predecessor to Columbia College’s School of Theatre and Dance) from 1980 — when what was then the Columbia College Theatre/Music Department moved into what is now the Getz Theatre Center of Columbia College — to 2009, when he assumed the title of Chair Emeritus, continuing to teach and direct at the college until his death on September 21, 2014.

Shortly before his death, Patinkin established the Sheldon Patinkin Award at Columbia College Chicago to assist outstanding Theatre students in their journey to a professional career. For more information, and to contribute to the Sheldon Patinkin Award, please contact Columbia College’s Office of Development and Alumni Relations: https://giving.colum.edu/s/1871/bp22/home.aspx?gid=2&pgid=1339

Sheldon Patinkin – hailed as “The Dean of Chicago Theatre” in a 2006 article in the Chicago theatre-industry publication Performink – launched his career in Chicago theatre as a teenager when, as a student at the University of Chicago in the early 1950s, he became involved with the school’s extracurricular University Theatre program, working with other students and community members including director Paul Sills, producer Bernie Sahlins, and actors Mike Nichols, Elaine May, Barbara Harris, Ed Asner, and others. Patinkin’s relationship with Sills and Sills’ mother, teacher Viola Spolin – widely regarded as “The Mother of Improv” – led to continued work with two seminal professional Chicago theatre companies: the Playwrights Theatre Club and then The Second City, the world’s premier improv/comedy theatre and training center. From Second City’s 1959 founding until his death in 2014, Patinkin was an influential creative voice at Second City, which is the Columbia College Chicago School of Theatre and Dance’s partner institution in Columbia’s groundbreaking, nationally renowned BA Program in Comedy Writing and Performance. Patinkin cowrote Second City’s official history, The Second City: The Essentially Accurate History, and also served as a writer and associate producer for the popular Canadian TV series SCTV under the Second City umbrella.

Patinkin was also an artistic consultant at Chicago’s internationally lauded Steppenwolf Theatre and co-founder of The School at Steppenwolf, where he taught for 17 years. The School at Steppenwolf was established in consultation with Patinkin by Steppenwolf co-founder (and former Columbia College Theatre Department faculty member) Jeff Perry, Steppenwolf’s then-artistic director Martha Lavey, and Columbia College alum Anna D. Shapiro ’90, HDR ’15, a former student of Patinkin’s at Columbia and Lavey’s successor as Steppenwolf’s artistic director. They developed a 10-week “ensemble studies” curriculum inspired by values that inform great ensemble work and great acting: the ability to act spontaneously, instinctively and with joyful abandon, while maintaining the specificity and discipline required of great dramatic writing.

Patinkin was a prolific theatre director, staging numerous productions at such Chicago-area theatres as Steppenwolf, the Apollo Theatre, the Wellington Theatre, the Briar Street Theatre, National Jewish Theatre, City Lit Theatre, Metropolis Performing Arts Centre, the Gift Theatre, and the Grant Park Concerts as well as the Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department. He won a 1993 Joseph Jefferson Award (the Chicago area’s top theatre prize) for his direction of the musical revue Puttin’ On the Ritz at National Jewish Theatre, as well as a special Jeff Award in 1991 for his service to the Chicago theatre community.

On September 28, 2015, the Getz Theatre Center’s lower-level studio performance space (formerly the New Studio Theatre) was formally dedicated as the Sheldon Patinkin Theatre in Patinkin’s memory. Patinkin’s own account of his experience as chair of the Columbia College Theatre Department is chronicled in a 1998 interview for the Columbia College Chicago Oral History Project.

Sheldon Patinkin: The Life, Laughs, and Legacy on Saturday, September 21, is a free event. Contributions are gratefully accepted. To support the Theatre Program with a financial gift please visit this link and click on “See More Gift Options”  and select “Theatre” to ensure that your contribution is assisting the Theatre Program and its students. For more information about the Theatre Advisory Board and its activities – please click here.