Congratulations to the alumni, faculty, and former students and faculty members of the Columbia College Chicago School of Theatre and Dance who have been nominated for 2025 Joseph Jefferson Awards, Chicago’s top theatre award. The Equity “Jeff Awards” honor excellence in Chicago’s Equity theatre during the 2024-2025 theatre season. The list of this year’s Equity Jeff Award nominees, announced August 11 by the Joseph Jefferson Awards Committee, includes alumni, former students, and current and former faculty from Columbia College Chicago’s Theatre and Dance programs in the areas of performance, design, direction, choreography, and musical direction. The individual nominees include these Columbia College Theatre Program alums:

Grant Sabin ’05, a graduate of the Theatre Program’s Theatre Design Program and also a faculty member in the Theatre program, and Marcus Klein ’23, a graduate of the Theatre Program’s BA Program in Theatre Design and Technology. Sabin and Klein were nominated in the category of Scenic Design-Midsize for their work on American Blues Theatre’s The Last Wide Open.

Shayna Patel ’22, a graduate of the Theatre program’s BA Program in Theatre Design and Technology, nominated in the category of Scenic Design-Midsize for her work on American Blues Theatre’s Golden Leaf Ragtime Blues.

Paul Deziel ’14, a graduate of the Theatre Program’s Technical Theatre program, nominated in the category of Projection Design for his work on Frozen at Paramount Theatre.

Also nominated was Columbia College School of Theatre and Dance faculty member Daryl Brooks, nominated in the category of Director-Revue for his work on That’s What Friends Are For: Gladys, Dionne and Patti at Black Ensemble Theater. The show was also nominated in the category of Production-Revue.

Also nominated were former Columbia College Theatre Program Acting program student AnJi White, nominated for Performer in a Supporting Role-Play for East Texas Hot Links at Court Theatre; former Theatre Program student and former staff accompanist Kory Danielson, nominated in the category of Music Direction twice, for Cats and Frozen at Paramount Theatre; former School of Theatre and Dance faculty member Jen Ellison, nominated in the category of Director-Revue for her work on The Second City’s This Too Shall Slap, which was also nominated in the category of Production-Revue; former School of Theatre and Dance faculty member Jim Corti, nominated in the category of Director-Musical-Large for Million Dollar Quartet at Paramount Theatre; former Theatre Program faculty member Jermaine Hill, nominated for Music Direction for The Color Purple at Goodman Theatre; former Theatre Program faculty member Linda Fortunato, nominated in the category of Choreography for Irving Berlin’s White Christmas at Marriott Theatre; and former Columbia College Dance Program faculty member Richard Woodbury, nominated for Original Music in a Play for Inherit the Wind at Goodman Theatre.

The 2025 Equity Jeff Awards honor excellence in theatrical production at Chicago-area theatre between July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025. The  Equity Jeff Awards presentation will take place at the Harris Theatre for Music in Dance in downtown Chicago on Monday, September 29, 2025. For more information, click here.