Congratulations to the alumni and faculty of the Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department and Columbia College Chicago Music Department who have been nominated for 2022 Joseph Jefferson Awards, Chicago’s top theatre award. The Equity “Jeff Awards” honor excellence in Chicago’s Equity theatre during the 2021-2022 theatre season. The list of this year’s Equity Jeff Award nominees, announced August 23, includes alumni, former students, and current and former faculty from Columbia College Chicago’s Theatre and Music departments in the areas of writing, performance, direction, choreography, musical direction, design, and performance — including:

New Work: Columbia College Theatre Department alum Tyla Abercrumbie ’98, for her play Relentless, presented in its world premiere by TimeLine Theatre. Relentless was also nominated for Production–Play–Large.

Solo Performance: former Columbia College Theatre Department student Bethany Thomas, for Northlight Theatre’s Songs for Nobodies.

Director–Play–Midsize: Columbia College alum Cody Estle ’11, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s Theatre Directing program, for The Luckiest at Raven Theatre, where Estle is artistic director. The Luckiest was also nominated for Production–Play–Midsize.

Director–Revue–Large: Jen Ellison, a faculty member in the Columbia College Theatre Department’s Comedy Writing and Performance BA Program, for Do the Right Thing, No Worries if Not at The Second City, and Kenny Ingram, a former teacher of Musical Theatre Dance in the Columbia College Theatre Department’s Musical Theatre Program, for Porchlight Music Theatre’s Blues in the Night.

Choreography: Columbia College alums Michael George ’16, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Acting, and Isaiah Silvia-Chandley ’18, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BFA Program in Musical Theatre Performance, for their choreography for the musical Kinky Boots at Paramount Theatre.

Music Direction: Theatre Department faculty member David Fiorello, for Porchlight Music Theatre’s Blues in the Night, and former Theatre Department student and staff accompanist Kory Danielson, for Paramount Theatre’s Kinky Boots.

Sound Design–Midsize: Columbia College Music Department alum Jeffrey Levin ’10, a graduate of the Columbia College Music Department‘s BA Program in Music with a Composition Concentration, for The Moors at A Red Orchid Theatre.

Projection Design: former Theatre Department faculty member Mike Tutaj, for Groundhog Day The Musical at Paramount Theatre.

Fight Choreography: Columbia College Theatre Department faculty member David Woolley, coordinator of the Theatre Department’s Stage Combat Minor, for Paramount Theatre’s Sweat.

In addition to the individual nominees listed above, Columbia College alumni and faculty participated in many of the productions nominated for awards, including Production–Play–Large (TimeLine Theatre’s Relentless, Court Theatre’s Two Trains Running), Production–Play–Midsize (Raven Theatre’s The Last Pair of Earlies and The Luckiest), Production–Musical–Large (Drury Lane Theatre’s Evita, Paramount Theatre’s Kinky Boots), Production–Musical or Revue–Midsize (Mercury Theater Chicago’s Sister Act, Teatro Vista’s Somewhere Over the Border), Production–Revue–Large (Porchlight Music Theatre’s Blues in the Night), Ensemble–Play (Two Trains Running), and Ensemble–Musical or Revue (Blues in the Night, Somewhere Over the Border, and Chicago Shakespeare Theatre’s It Came From Outer Space).

 

The 54th anniversary Equity Jeff Awards ceremony will take place October 17, 2022, at Drury Lane Theatre in the Chicago suburb of Oakbrook Terrace. The ceremony will be directed by Paramount Theatre artistic director and former Columbia College Theatre Department faculty member Jim Corti with musical direction by Columbia College Theatre Department faculty member David Fiorello. For more information, click here.