Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department associate chairperson Paul Amandes, coordinator of the Theatre Department’s Playwriting/Writing for Performance BA Program, will co-host and perform in Banned Together: A Censorship Cabaret on Monday, September 26, at 8 PM at Davenport’s Piano Bar, 1383 N. Milwaukee, in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood.

 

The event — part of Banned Book Week (September 25-October 1), a national celebration of the freedom to read — will also feature performances by Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department alumni David Stobbe ’16 and Rory Beckett ’16, both graduates of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Musical Theatre, and students Kyle Hamlin, a senior in the Theatre Department’s Playwriting program; Henry Weisel, a junior in the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Acting with a minor in American Sign Language Studies; and Leslie Keller, a junior interdisciplinary major in Dance and Theatre. Faculty, students, and alumni from Roosevelt University and Northwestern University are also participating in the event.

Banned Together: A Censorship Cabaret is a program of songs and scenes from shows that have been censored or challenged on America’s stages, created to raise awareness around issues of censorship and free expression in the theatre. The performance will feature selections from such plays and musicals as Angels in America, Cabaret, Chicago, Rent, and Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, with contextual commentary provided by playwright John Weidman (Pacific Overtures, Passion), president of the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund. The DLDF is a nonprofit organization created by the Dramatists Guild to advocate for free expression in the dramatic arts and a vibrant public domain for all, and to educate the public about the industry standards surrounding theatrical production and about the protections afforded dramatists under copyright law.

Admission to Banned Together: A Censorship Cabaret is free. However, there is a two-drink minimum. (Non-alcoholic drinks, such as soft drinks and coffee, count toward the minimum.) To make reservations, click here or email Cheryl Coons, the Chicago Region representative of the Dramatists Guild, at ccoons@dramatistsguild.com.