Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department alumni are featured in all three summer 2019 productions by Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Chicago’s internationally recognized Tony Award-winning theatre company located at Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand on Chicago’s lakefront.

Columbia College alum Courtney Mack ’15 has taken over the role of Katherine Howard in Six, CST’s North American premiere of the British rock musical about the six wives of England’s King Henry VIII. (Howard, the king’s fifth wife, was married to him from 1540 until 1541; she was beheaded in 1542.) In addition, Columbia College alum Mallory Maedke ’14 is the alternate performer for three lead roles in the musical: Howard, Henry’s second wife Anne Boleyn, and Henry’s third wife Jane Seymour. Both Mack and Maedke are graduates of the Theatre Department’s BFA Program in Musical Theatre Performance.

The acclaimed production has been extended through August 4.

Columbia College alum Jared David Michael Grant ’12, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Musical Theatre, and Aalon Smith, a senior in the Theatre Deparment’s Musical Theatre Program, are featured in CST’s family-friendly stage version of the classic film The Wizard of Oz, running July 6 through August 25. Grant plays Uncle Henry in this musical retelling of L. Frank Baum’s classic novel, and Smith plays multiple roles in the ensemble.

Kenny Ingram, a former dance teacher in the Columbia College Theatre Department’s Musical Theatre Program, is the show’s choreographer. Kory Danielson, a former student in the Theatre Department’s Musical Theatre Program, is the musical director, and Columbia College Theatre Department faculty member Mike Tutaj is the show’s projections designer.

Columbia College alum Alec Silver ’17, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Acting, is featured in CST’s summer touring production of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, presented through CST’s annual Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks program. Silver plays Dromio of Ephesus, a clownish servant who is frequently confused with his lookalike brother in this classic comedy about two pairs of mismatched twins. The outdoor free production opens July 18 at Navy Pier’s Polk Bros Park Performance Lawn, and then plays through August 18 at various parks around Chicagoland. For a performance schedule, click here.

For tickets and more information about all of Chicago Shakespeare Theatre’s summer productions, click here.