Theatre Symposium

“For the poet Carl Sandburg it was the ‘City of the Big Shoulders.’ Architect Daniel Burnham called it ‘the Paris of the Prairies.’ That mix of raw energy and refined aestheticism makes Chicago one of the world’s great cities–and the current theatre capital of America.” 
— Michael Billington, The Guardian, 2004


COLUMBIA COLLEGE CHICAGO TO HOST
INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON CHICAGO THEATRE
MAY 18-22, 2011

The Theatre Department of Columbia College Chicago, with the support of Columbia’s School of Fine and Performing Arts, will host Sustaining Chicago Theatre: Past, Present, and Future, a scholarly symposium on the history of Chicago theatre. Scheduled for May 18–22, 2011, the event will bring scholars and professionals from around the country and overseas to Chicago for four days of presentations, panels, and performances.

The symposium will focus on Chicago’s rise as a center of theatrical creativity, innovation, and influence over the past 50 years and explore ideas for the future of theatre in an atmosphere of rapidly increasing technological development and international communication.

Columbia will partner with city agencies, cultural and philanthropic organizations, and other institutions of higher learning in the area, which will offer artists and academics an opportunity to share their knowledge of what has made Chicago “the current theatre capital of America,” as Michael Billington, theatre critic of Britain’s Guardian newspaper, wrote in 2004.

Please check back for more information as it becomes available. Attendees will be able to register via the website for $95.00.

PROPOSALS ARE DUE SEPTEMBER 1, 2010 and should be emailed to chitheatresymposium@colum.edu along with any other inquiries.

Image: Steppenwolf Theatre Company, ca. 1980
Lisa Howe-Ebright. Chicago Public Library, Special Collections and Preservation Division, 
Chicago Theater Collection.