Preston Max Allen

David Cromer

A new play by Columbia College Chicago Theatre alum Preston Max Allen ’13, a graduate of the Columbia College Theatre Program’s BA Program in Acting, is receiving its world premiere from Off-Broadway’s MCC Theater, and it will be directed by Tony Award-winning former Columbia College Chicago Theatre Program student and faculty member and Columbia College Honorary Degree recipient David Cromer HDR ’17.

The drama, Caroline, begins previews September 12 at MCC’s Susan & Ronald Frankel Theater, located at 511 W. 52nd St. in New York City’s midtown Manhattan theatre district. A post-show discussion with Cromer and Allen is set for September 24, and opening night is scheduled for September 30. The limited run will continue through October 19. For tickets, click here.

Preston Max Allen at Windy City Times’ 2024 “30 Under 30” Awards. (Photo: Kat Fitzgerald, Mystic Images Photography)

As previously reported in this blog, Allen is the author of the musical We Are the Tigers, which enjoyed a 2019 Off-Broadway run. In 2024, Allen was honored by Chicago’s LGBT news site Windy City Times as one of its “30 Under 30” award winners.

David Cromer

As previously reported in this blog, Cromer won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for the Broadway hit The Band’s Visit in 2018, a year after he won the Obie Award for directing The Band’s Visit‘s world premiere off-Broadway. Also in 2017, Cromer received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Columbia College when he spoke at the school’s commencement ceremony. Cromer’s other directing credits include the 2025 Broadway hit Good Night, and Good Luck, starring and cowritten by George Clooney.

Caroline is described as “a luminous and intimate story about the possibility of redemption and the complex relationships between generations of mothers and daughters.” A content advisory notes that the play “makes reference to/contains discussions of anti-trans violence, child abuse, and addiction and recovery.”