Faculty and Staff
Faculty and Staff
* indicates full-time faculty / Artist-in-residence
Paul Amandes* (Voice and Acting)
B.M., Northern Illinois University; actor and director; vocalist and musician; composer, lyricist, and playwright. 2008- Recorded a professional CD (with singer-songwriter, Anne Hills) of the songs from his play Local Wonders. Paul has performed concerts of the songs around Chicago. He also updated the score and script with co-writer, Virginia Smith. Paul directed The Playboy of the Western World for Columbia’s Theater Dept. in the Getz Theater. He was featured on a CD recording of The Kingdom of Grimm by Douglas Post. Paul will be on sabbatical for the Spring 2009 semester, where he’ll be updating his scripts Little Christmas; Epiphany and Instruction for the Serious Guitarist and Two-Fools Gold. He’ll also be putting together a marketing plan for his plays and songs. He’s hoping to record a CD of songs he’s written that aren’t part of any show. Paul is an active member of the Dramatists’ Guild, Actors’ Equity Association, and ASCAP.
Erin Annarella (Voice, adjunct faculty)
has taught voice/speech and acting at The University of Texas at Austin and The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City. Most recently, Erin served as Voice Coach for the Broadway production of August Wilson’s Radio Golf. She has vocal coached at Seattle Repertory Theater, Baltimore Center Stage, The Huntington Theater, True Colors in Atlanta, and The Goodman. As an actress and singer, her regional credits included The Pirates of Penzance, H.M.S. Pinafore and You Can’t Take it With You (Essie) at the Pittsburgh Public Theater; The Mikado (Yum Yum) Macbeth (First Witch), and The Comedy of Errors with The Utah Shakespeare Festival; Marriott Linconshire Theatre, The Illinois Theatre Center, The Theatre Under the Start (Houston), The 5th Avenue Theatre (Seattle) and The Utah Festival Opera. Additionally, Erin has performed Cabaret in New York City and Chicago, and is a member of Actor’s Equity Association. Erin received an M.F.A. in Acting from The University of Texas at Austin and studied voice at The Royal Academy of Music in London, The University of Texas, and privately with Claudia Pinza, Joseph Evans and Barbara Maier.
Mary McDonald Badger (Producing Director)
AGA, USAA, AEA, Graduate of Kansas State University, United Scenic Artist lighting designer, USA Regional Chair and 401(k) Trustee, Resident Designer for Cerqua Rivera Dance Theater, Actor's Equity Association stage manager, Chair of the Michael Merritt Awards and Scholarship program for Excellence in Design and Collaboration. Recent productions include Massacre (Sing to Your Children) presented by Teatro Vista at the Goodman Theatre and Living Green for Victory Gardens Theatre.
Kimberly Baker (Text Analysis, adjunct faculty)
Joined Columbia College in the fall of 2007 as an adjunct. Her recent and upcoming directing projects include: The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams, Oakton College (Mar. 08), Dolly West's Kitchen, Frank McGuinness, Timeline Theatre (Jan. 08), Eye of the Storm, Charles Way, Vittum Theatre (Nov. 07), The Busy World is Hushed , Keith Bunin, Next Theatre (Sept. 07), The Laramie Project, Tectonic Theatre Project, Act One Conservatory (May 07), Tiny Baby, Eric Pfeffinger, Estrogen Fest 07 (June 07), Narnia, CS Lewis, Emerald City Theatre (April 07), American Divine, Joe Pintauro, Act One Conservatory (Jan 07), Feast, Aline Lathrop, Chicago Dramatists (Jan 07), Born Yesterday, Garson Kanin, Oakton College (Oct 06)
Tab Baker (Acting, adjunct faculty)
Karen Berger-Nolte (Stage Make-up, adjunct faculty)
Magica Bottari (Acting, adjunct faculty)
Has worked with numerous Chicago theatres over her twenty-year career including The Bog, Steppenwolf, Remains, Chicago Shakespeare, Neo-Futurists, Doorika, New Crime, Blind Parrot, City Lit, Trap Door and Victory Gardens. Ms. Bottari most recently appeared on stage as Miss Maudie in To Kill A Mockingbird with The Bog Theatre and as Emilia in Desdemona: A Play About A Handkerchief, which played at the Sanford Meisner Theatre in New York City. She has also appeared in the yet to be released feature films Silent Shame and Drunkboat. On the small screen, Magica can currently be seen on PBS’ Literacy Link. She has also done a good deal of commercial work, most of it airing outside of Chicago.
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Ann Boyd (Body Movement, adjunct faculty)
Performer, choreographer, director, writer and teacher. This past year she directed the Sweat Girls in Sweatily Ever After, choreographed Dead Man's Cell Phone at Steppenwolf, created a 10 person physical theater piece in 10 hours for Collaboraction’s Sketchbook, performed her solo No Time Like the Present at Finch Gallery, directed Maia Morgan's solo And now, the octopus for Live Bait's Filet of Solo Festival, directed Arlene Malinowski's one-woman show Aiming for Sainthood at 16th Street Theater in Berwyn and performed her original contemporary fairy-tale Naguales at Chicago Public Schools as part of Urban Gateways Touring Program. Ann is currently teaching body movement for actors at Columbia College, solo performance at the University of Chicago and drama for 4-9 year olds at Greeley School. Ann’s teaching is influenced by her interdisciplinary approach to making work and draws upon viewpoints and constraint-based composition as generative tools.
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Gigi Buffington (Voice, Acting, adjunct faculty)
AEA, SAG, AFTRA, VASTA. Voice and text coach, voice over artist, and performer. She recently worked on the 2008 season at the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) on Chief Associate Artistic Director Greg Doran's productions of, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet (with David Tennant and Patrick Stewart), and Love’s Labour’s Lost. She led text workshops from the plays to teachers and university students at Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust, company warm ups for the acting ensemble in the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon, and one on one voice and text sessions to the acting company. She is one of two practitioners in the world, and the only American, trained by Patsy Rodenburg at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where she completed her Master's degree in Training Actors (Voice). She will receive a Post Graduate Award in, The Teaching of Shakespeare in Theory and Practice for Actors and Artists, from Warwick University in May ‘09. While living in the UK she led workshop intensives in Viewpoints & Composition for MadHouse Theatre Company at the Nemzeti Theatre in Budapest, Johnny Flynn and Company at Shunt, London, and at Rose Bruford College of Music & Drama.Inspired by Anne Bogart and the SITI Company she founded and is the artistic director of, Field House Lab, a company committed to exploring physical and vocal improvisation as a vehicle for creating original work. Field House Lab presented the world premiere of Orpheus Now, written & directed by Buffington at the city of Chicago's, Storefront Theater, in their 2004 - 2005 season.
Her film credits include the lead role in, Galileo's Grave, written & directed by Clayton Brown, Empathy, (official jury selection: Berlin, Jerusalem and Chicago International Film Festivals). Empathy received its US premiere at New York's Film Forum in January 2004; Paramount Pictures, Just Visiting, with Jean Reno and Christina Applegate; SAG independents, The Debilitales (Lead) and Growing Out of Us, written & directed by Daniel MacRae, Everything He Touched, written & directed by Nancy Kucke, and Thorndale, written & directed by Ryan Miller.
She wrote, directed and performed, The Prince Of Wales, with an original score by Randy Tressler, featured in the Chicago Humanities Festival: Words & Pictures. Her short story, Crushed, was featured in Midnight Mind and Band-it-lit magazines. She has been awarded three artist-in-residence grants to The Ragdale Foundation for her writing and served as a panelist.
Regional Theater highlights include Emily Dickinson in, The Belle Of Amherst, and the dual role of Geronte and the Amanuensis in, The Illusion, directed by Michael Cristofer. Also in New York, she performed in readings with Marsha Mason, Debra Monk, David Strathairn and Melissa Leo. She was a company member of Actors & Writers, with Ron Nyswaner, Nina Shengold, Mary Louise Wilson and Adam LeFevre among others.
An extensive career as a modern dancer included representing the United States in the Ballet Festival V in Trujillo, Peru. She performed in modern dance companies throughout Chicago and taught workshops and master classes in Modern and Jazz dance throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. She has choreographed productions for The Goodman Theatre, Remains Theatre Co. and ARTCO.She presented a voice study at the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 2005 Conference with Columbia College colleagues on effective methods and approaches used to solve persistent vocal problems in nasality and its effects on vowel formation.
She has served as vocal coach for CNN International working with bureau chiefs in Moscow, New Delhi and Lagos, and the managing editor of southeast Asia.She received her acting training in Meisner Technique in New York City with Maggie Flanigan (William Esper Studio) and Robert Neff Williams (Voice & Speech). She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia College Chicago and is a certified instructor of Soaring Crane Style Qi Gung. She is married to vocalist Steve Evans. www.steve-evans.com
Will Casey (Acting, adjunt faculty)
B.A., Theatre Arts, St. Edward's University, M.F.A., University of Southern California; actor; ensemble member of Famous Door Theatre Company; recipient of the Jack Nicholson Scholarship from the University of Southern California
Kate DeVore (Voice, adjunct faculty)
B.A., Theater, University of Maryland, M.A., Speech-language Pathology, University of Iowa; CCC-SLP; voice/speech pathologist, speech/dialect trainer, actor, personal development coach; operator of Total Voice; awarded the Clyde Vinson Award from VASTA
Andrea Dymond (Directing)
Jason Epperson (Production Coordinator)
Doreen Feitelberg (Voice, adjunct faculty)
B.A., English, Classics, University of the Witwatersrand; Speech, Drama, University of South Africa; Speech, Drama Teaching Licentiate, Trinity College, London; voice and acting coach, actor; Joseph Jefferson Award Committee Member; author of The Sound of Voices; awarded Honorary Life Vice-President of the South African College of Speech and Drama Teachers
Heather Gilbert* (Lighting Design)
Jeffrey Ginsberg* (Acting and Voice)
M.F.A., Yale School of Drama; actor, director and educator. As co-artistic Director of the National Jewish Theater for four years, he supervised, directed or acted in over twenty classics, as well as Chicago and world premieres. He was also co-artistic director of the Immediate Theater Company where he directed Jeff recognized productions of Seduced, Two Small Bodies, Apocalyptic Butterflies and Ragged Dick. Recent projects include (as director): The Last Letter, a solo performance from Vasily Grossman’s novel Life and Fate, performed at Spertus College and Columbia College, The Incredibly Famous Willy Rivers with the Sinnerman Ensemble (at The Viaduct Theater), Bernadine and Dina at the Neo-Futurists, the world premiere of Alex Kotlowitz’s and Amy Dorn’s An Unobstructed View at Pegasus Player’s Theatre (co-directed with Susan Padveen) and (as performer/creator): Walking Stick, an indie film from Grandville Yarnell Productions, Field House Lab’s inaugural production, Orpheus Now at the City of Chicago’s Storefront Theatre and an ongoing collaboration with Three Leaves Productions where he has worked on Growing Out of Us, and all three films comprising The Debilitales Trilogy. He has directed Project Upstart’s productions of Beckett’s Play and Harry Kondoleon’s The Fairy Garden and The Laramie Project for Performing Arts at Oakton College and his performance credits include Mercy at the University of Chicago, 12 Volt Heart at Northwestern University, a new theatre piece by Jeremy Cohen and Michael Elyanov based on the life of photojournalist Dan Eldon, Mark Ravenhill’s Shopping and Fucking at Bailiwick Repertory Theater and the Chicago premieres of The Heidi Chronicles, Sight Unseen and Exact Change. Jeff directed Morocco for Trap Door Theater, True West as the inaugural production of the Accidental Theater, The Pineapple Story for New Tuners Stages 2000, Caryl Churchill’s Ice Cream and Craig Lucas’ Blue Window for The School at Steppenwolf and two new plays for the Pegasus Players Young Playwrights Festival as well as co-directed (with Susan Padveen) Ken Lonergan’s The Waverly Gallery for that theater. He has taught at The School at Steppenwolf, Northwestern University’s ‘Cherub’ Program, The Actor’s Center, Center Theater’s Training Program and at Columbia College where he has been on the faculty for over twenty years and has directed productions of Spring Awakening, Reckless, The Diary of a Scoundrel, Leocadia, The Lucky Spot, The Waiting Room, The Wild Duck, Richard Nelson’s Goodnight Children Everywhere, Roland Schimmelphennig’s Push Up and most recently Jean-Claude Grumberg’s The Workroom. Jeff received a Presidential Scholar in the Arts Teaching Award and has twice been nominated for an Excellence in Teaching Award from Columbia College. He is a graduate of Boston University’s School of the Arts and the Yale School of Drama.
Gwenne Godwin (Master Electrician)
John Green (Department Chair)
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Kristen Hill (Stage Make-up, adjunct faculty)
B.A., Interdisciplinary Arts, Columbia College; freelance make-up artist and designer
Tom Keiffer (Costume Shop Foreman)
B.A., Communication, M.A., Theater, Bowling Green State University; freelance costume designer, actor, singer; Joseph Jefferson Award-winning designer
Caroline Dodge Latta* (Acting)
Caroline Dodge Latta began at Columbia in 1981 as a part time faculty member in the Theater Department, became an Artist in Residence, and in 1986 joined the ranks of the full time tenured faculty. She teaches acting at various skill levels: basic skills, scene study, advanced scene study and the acting III styles Shakespeare; she is also a director. For the past four years she has led a summer student trip to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario. She is the Director of the Liberace scholarship competition and the internship coordinator for the Theater Department. She is also a consultant evaluator for the Higher Learning Commission.
Professor Latta received her B.A. in Theater from the University of Maine at Orono in 1969 and her M.A.(1971) and Ph.D. (1973) in Theater from the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana. She has taught at Case Western Reserve University, Worcester Polytechnic, the University of Illinois Chicago, and Northwestern University among others.
She is a professional actress in Chicago as well and has worked with such companies as Journeymen Theater, Citadel Theatre, City Lit Theater Company and Remy Bumppo. She recently performed as Mercedes in Adam Bock’s Thugs at Profiles Theater.
Dr. Latta was Dean of Columbia from 1994-2001 and was awarded the title of Distinguished Professor of Theater by the President for her service to the College.
Anastasia Platt-Lubin (Properties Master)
Julie Lutgen (Department Receptionist)
B.A., Theater, Design Concentration, Columbia College; freelance set designer, adjunct faculty
Michael Maddox (Technical Director)
B.A., Purdue University; freelance set designer
Frances Maggio* (Costume Design)
M.F.A., Costume Design, DePaul University; freelance costume designer
Ed Mazzocco (Office Manager/Administrative Assistant)
B.A., Journalism, Eastern Illinois University; full-time staff member; staff editor Daily Eastern News; staff reporter Charleston (IL) Times-Courier
Terry McCabe* (Directing)
M.F.A., Directing, Northwestern University; freelance director;
artistic director of City Lit Theater and author of Mis-Directing the Play: an Argument against Contemporary Theatre (Ivan R. Dee Inc; hardback 2001, paperback 2008).
John McFarland (Stage Combat, adjunct faculty)
B.F.A., Theatre Performance, Wayne State University, M.F.A., Performance, Brandeis University; actor, fight director, Movement, Acting & Voice Coach; Co-Founder and former coordinator for Largest Regional Stage Combat Workshop in the nation, The Winter Wonderland Workshop
Bradley Mott* (Acting)
B.S.S., Theater, Northwestern University; freelance actor
Tom Mula* (Acting, Playwrighting, and Make-up)
B.F.A., University of Illinois; award-winning actor; director, playwright, makeup artist; winner of Joseph Jefferson Award for The Golem and Sylvia's Real Good Advice; author, Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol
Chicago actor, director, and playwright for more than 30 years. His plays W!, The Golem, and his work on Nicole Hollander's Sylvia's Real Good Advice were all recognized by the Joseph Jefferson Committee; he is also the proud author of Almighty Bob. His novel Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol was published in 1995 by Adams Media; it was a Chicago Tribune bestseller. The audio version was broadcast nationwide on NPR for six seasons; the play received the Cunningham Prize from the Goodman School of Drama at DePaul. It premiered in 1998 at Chicago's Goodman Theatre (also directed by Steve Scott), was Jeff-nominated, and received an After Dark Award. Since then, it has received hundreds of productions nationally and worldwide, including productions in South Africa and Australia.
Some of Mr. Mula's acting credits include Hot Mikado at Drury Lane, for which he received an After Dark Award and a Joseph Jefferson Award; Lawrence in Christine Thatcher's Emma's Child; the Fool in King Lear; Richard III, Caliban, Bottom, Feste, Malvolio, and Prospero; another award-winning solo turn in The Circus Of Dr. Lao; and seven seasons (over 400 performances) as Goodman Theatre's Scrooge. His directing credits include Jeff nominations for Porch and A Life, and the world premiere of Larry Shue's last play, Wenceslas Square in Chicago and at the Queens' Festival in Belfast.
Mula was Artistic Director of the Oak Park Festival Theatre for seven years, directing or appearing in As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Richard III, Midsummer Night’s Dream, and his own adaptations of Dr. Faustus and Henry IV pts. I and 2, titled Falstaff. Mula has spent fifteen summers at Peninsula Players in Door County Wisconsin. There he has directed productions of Amadeus, Lion in Winter, Red Herring, and Greetings, among others. He has appeared there in Cabaret, Cherry Orchard, Art, and far too many farces.
Mr. Mula has taught in the Theater Department at Columbia College for more than twenty years, most of them as an Artist-in-Residence. There he has directed Tartuffe; co-directed Ragtime, MacBeth, and Romeo and Juliet with Sheldon Patinkin; and appeared in Take Me Along and Twelfth Night.
Claire Nolan (Acting, adjunct faculty)
B.F.A., Music/Theater, Illinois Wesleyan University; writer, actor, director, private coach; founding member of The Sweat Girls, previous Artistic Director of the Blind Parrot, adjunct faculty at Seabury/ Western Theological Seminary, core professor for Association of Chicago Theological Schools Doctor of Ministry in Preaching Program; recipient of two Joseph Jefferson Award Citations
Cecilie O'Reilly* (Voice and Acting)
B.S., AEA, Theater and Education, Illinois Wesleyan University; B.A., Music, Columbia College Chicago; training at A.C.T.: The American Conservatory Theater Training Center; freelance actress, singer, director and voice and accent coach, recipient of Lilly Diversity Grant.
Dialect Coach for Steppenwolf Summer ’08 production Superior Donuts starring Michael McKean of Spinal Tap and “Laverne and Shirley” and Fall ’08 productions: Dublin Carol starring William Peterson of CBS’s “CSI”, Seafarer starring John Mahoney of NBC’s “Frasier” and August: Osage County – the 2008 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play that has just moved to London’s National Theatre. Will direct Impossible Marriage by Beth Henley in the Columbia Theater Department New Studio 1st week of February 2009. Dialect coach for Regina Taylor’s Magnolia at Goodman Theatre Spring 2009.
Susan Padveen* (Directing)
M.A., Depaul University, School for New Learning; freelance director; former co-Artistic Director, National Jewish Theater; co-Director, Green Room Project, member Joseph Jefferson Committee A/T Team
Sheldon Patinkin* (Directing, Acting)
M.A., English, University of Chicago; Artistic Consultant to The Second City and Steppenwolf Theatre, author of The Second City: Backstage at the World's Greatest Comedy Theater & Keeping Up With the Times: A History of the American Musical
Jacqueline Penrod* (Set Design)
USAA. B.F.A., University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana; She has design professionally for over twenty five years, individually and as a partner in Penrod Design. Recent designs include Around the World in 80 Days for Lookingglass Theatre, Love’s Labour’s Lost for Milwaukee Shakespeare, Philadelphia Story for Remy Bumpo. Has received many awards for her design work. Former resident designer, National Jewish Theater, Member of the steering committee for the Michael Merritt Awards and Scholarship program.
Kathleen Perkins* (Acting)
M.F.A., University of Minnesota; 1999 Carnegie Foundation Scholar; Professional Theater Program Fellow, University of Michigan; freelance actress and director
Susan Philpot (Dialects, adjunct faculty)
Freelance actress and dialect coach
Keith Pitts* (Lighting Design)
Brian Posen (Acting, Improv, adjunct faculty)
B.A., Psychology, B.A., Criminal Justice, Indiana University; B.A., Theater, Columbia College; M.F.A., Acting, University of Illinois; actor, director, producer, musician; Executive Producer, Lukaba Productions; Artistic Director, Chicago Sketch Musical Comedy, The Cupid Players, Broutil & Frothingham; Recipient of the Charles and Harriett Luckman Excellence in Teaching Award
David Puszkiewicz (Production Manager, adjunct faculty)
B.A. St. Mary’s University, freelance manager/technician; Mayor’s Office of Special Events; Ravenswood Event Services; Chicago Event Management; Jack Morton; Chicago Scenic Studios; Big Creek Productions; founding member, Absolute Theater Co.; St. Nicholas Theater Co. New Work Ensemble, Player’s Workshop of Second City.
Barbara Robertson (Acting, adjunct faculty)
B.F.A., University of Illinois; award-winning actress
Patricia Roeder (Costume Shop Manager)
B.S., Loyola University, freelance costume designer and stitcher
Michael Ryczek (Academic Manager)
directed over 30 shows in the Chicagoland area, most recently, MARVIN’S ROOM at Redtwist Theatre. He is the former Managing Director of Lookingglass Theatre and the former Artistic Director of Reflection’s Theatre. He received his Master’s degree in theatre from Northwestern University and his undergraduate degree in theatre from Roosevelt University. He is currently the President of the board of Season of Concern and a member of the Joseph Jefferson Artistic Committee. He continues to perform his one-man show Ten Seconds around the Chicagoland area
MFA Iowa Writers Workshop,University of Iowa; MFA Iowa Playwrights' Festival, University of Iowa, commissioned by the BBC, the Guthrie Theatre, Portland Stage Company, Ensemble Studio Theatre, recipient TCG/NEA Playwrights Fellowship and CEC Artslink International Fellowship, Iowa Arts Council Fellowship, BBC International Playwriting Award, Tampa Bay Performing Arts Award, and grants form the NEA, Iowa Arts Council, Bush Foundation.
Brian Shaw* (Associate Department Chair)
M.A., School for New Learning, DePaul University; freelance actor and director; founding member of the physical theater company Plasticene; engaged in community-based performance with Association House of Chicago and Free Street programs
Stephanie Shaw* (Acting and Musical Theater)
B.A., Columbia College Chicago; member, The Neofuturists; freelance actor and director
Nana Shineflug* (Movement)
M.A., Interdisciplinary Arts, Columbia College Chicago; dancer, choreographer; performance artist; photographer; founder and Artistic Director, The Chicago Moving Company; recipient, 1990 Ruth Page Award and 1996 Columbia College Lifetime Achievement Award
Catherine Slade* (Voice)
B.A., Columbia College Chicago; freelance actress and director; founding member, The Working Theater, New York; founder and Artistic Director, Manhattan Bridge Company, New York; member of Kristen Linklater's Company of Woman, Harvard University
Chuck Smith* (Acting, Directing, retired)
B.A., Theater Management, Governors State University; actor, director, producer; Emmy Award winner; recipient, Arts Midwest Minority Arts Administration Fellowship; Artistic Associate, Goodman Theatre
Estelle Spector* (Musical Theater)
Freelance director and choreographer; member Joseph Jefferson Award Committee
Craig Spidle (Acting, adjunct faculty)
B.F.A., University of Nebraska; M.F.A., Illinois State University; freelance actor, director; Joseph Jefferson Award nominee
Joe Szaday (Head, Audio Visual Dept.)
A/V Coordinator for the Columbia College Theater Department and Working Musician. Teaches bass and Guitar on the weekends and will be recording a live album with ‘Azure Play’ in January 2009. Performs regularly with 'The Billy Nicks Trio', 'JWQ', ‘Azure Play’ and 'Crystal Blue Jazz'. Recent album: We Three Strings with Bryan Lubeck, Johannes Linstead and Tomas Michaud which was voted in the Top 10 must have Smooth Jazz Christmas albums of 2006 by WNUA in Chicago. Sound Designed for the CCC Theater Department Productions of ‘Romeo & Juliet’ and ‘The Playboy Of The Western World’.
Suzanne Thompson (Feldenkrais Movement, adjunct faculty)
M.A., Theater, Speech Therapy, East Texas State University; post-graduate work, Dallas Theatre Center; actor, director, choreographer, certified Feldenkrais practicioner; teaching faculty, Victory Gardens Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Professional School
Kendra Thulin* (Voice)
Amy Uhl* (Musical Theater Dance, Musical Theater Dance Coordinator)
Union affiliations: AEA, SSDC, IATSE Local 798
Andra Velis-Simon (Musical Director)
Andra has worked with nearly 50 arts organizations in and around Chicago. As a Music Director, Vocal Director, Arranger and Accompanist, she has worked with BoHo, City Lit, Defiant (RIP), Emerald City, Hell in a Handbag, The Hypocrites, Lifeline, Open Eye, Rivendell, Signal, Stage Left, Strawdog, Theatre Building Chicago, and many others. She also toured for three summers with Wavelength, a comedy troupe that performs for educators across the country. Areas of special expertise include the development of new musical theatre works and coaching vocalists at all skill levels. Andra also worked for many years in arts administration, and has extensive experience in media relations, marketing, fundraising, special events, and institutional management. She served as the Managing Director of The Neo-Futurists, Marketing Director of Court Theatre, and in the fundraising department at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. As a freelance arts management consultant, her client list included some of the Chicago area’s most celebrated arts institutions, such as Next Theatre, About Face, and Victory Gardens.
Wendi Weber (Acting, adjunct faculty)
Albert Williams* (Musical Theater)
B.A., Music, Columbia College; singer; actor; musical theater composer and librettist; chief theater critic, Chicago Reader; winner, George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism and Peter Lisagor Award for Outstanding Arts Journalism; member, City of Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame.
Celeste Williams (Acting, adjunct faculty)
B.A., Journalism, B.A., Theatre, St. Mary's University, M.F.A., Acting, Graduate Fellow, University of Illinois; actor; Co-founder, Onyx Theatre Ensemble; four-time Joseph Jefferson Award nominee
Dennis Wise* (Movement)
B.F.A., Dance, Brigham Young University; community performance director
David Woolley* (Stage Combat)
B.F.A., Acting, Goodman School of Drama, DePaul University; Fight Master, Society of American Fight Directors; recipient, Joseph Jefferson Award for Consistent Excellence in Stage Combat; recipient, Off-Loop Theater Award for Best Fight Direction; freelance actor and fight director
Paul Amandes* (Voice and Acting)
B.M., Northern Illinois University; actor and director; vocalist and musician; composer, lyricist, and playwright. 2008- Recorded a professional CD (with singer-songwriter, Anne Hills) of the songs from his play Local Wonders. Paul has performed concerts of the songs around Chicago. He also updated the score and script with co-writer, Virginia Smith. Paul directed The Playboy of the Western World for Columbia’s Theater Dept. in the Getz Theater. He was featured on a CD recording of The Kingdom of Grimm by Douglas Post. Paul will be on sabbatical for the Spring 2009 semester, where he’ll be updating his scripts Little Christmas; Epiphany and Instruction for the Serious Guitarist and Two-Fools Gold. He’ll also be putting together a marketing plan for his plays and songs. He’s hoping to record a CD of songs he’s written that aren’t part of any show. Paul is an active member of the Dramatists’ Guild, Actors’ Equity Association, and ASCAP.
Erin Annarella (Voice, adjunct faculty)
has taught voice/speech and acting at The University of Texas at Austin and The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City. Most recently, Erin served as Voice Coach for the Broadway production of August Wilson’s Radio Golf. She has vocal coached at Seattle Repertory Theater, Baltimore Center Stage, The Huntington Theater, True Colors in Atlanta, and The Goodman. As an actress and singer, her regional credits included The Pirates of Penzance, H.M.S. Pinafore and You Can’t Take it With You (Essie) at the Pittsburgh Public Theater; The Mikado (Yum Yum) Macbeth (First Witch), and The Comedy of Errors with The Utah Shakespeare Festival; Marriott Linconshire Theatre, The Illinois Theatre Center, The Theatre Under the Start (Houston), The 5th Avenue Theatre (Seattle) and The Utah Festival Opera. Additionally, Erin has performed Cabaret in New York City and Chicago, and is a member of Actor’s Equity Association. Erin received an M.F.A. in Acting from The University of Texas at Austin and studied voice at The Royal Academy of Music in London, The University of Texas, and privately with Claudia Pinza, Joseph Evans and Barbara Maier.
Mary McDonald Badger (Producing Director)
AGA, USAA, AEA, Graduate of Kansas State University, United Scenic Artist lighting designer, USA Regional Chair and 401(k) Trustee, Resident Designer for Cerqua Rivera Dance Theater, Actor's Equity Association stage manager, Chair of the Michael Merritt Awards and Scholarship program for Excellence in Design and Collaboration. Recent productions include Massacre (Sing to Your Children) presented by Teatro Vista at the Goodman Theatre and Living Green for Victory Gardens Theatre.
Kimberly Baker (Text Analysis, adjunct faculty)
Joined Columbia College in the fall of 2007 as an adjunct. Her recent and upcoming directing projects include: The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams, Oakton College (Mar. 08), Dolly West's Kitchen, Frank McGuinness, Timeline Theatre (Jan. 08), Eye of the Storm, Charles Way, Vittum Theatre (Nov. 07), The Busy World is Hushed , Keith Bunin, Next Theatre (Sept. 07), The Laramie Project, Tectonic Theatre Project, Act One Conservatory (May 07), Tiny Baby, Eric Pfeffinger, Estrogen Fest 07 (June 07), Narnia, CS Lewis, Emerald City Theatre (April 07), American Divine, Joe Pintauro, Act One Conservatory (Jan 07), Feast, Aline Lathrop, Chicago Dramatists (Jan 07), Born Yesterday, Garson Kanin, Oakton College (Oct 06)
Tab Baker (Acting, adjunct faculty)
Karen Berger-Nolte (Stage Make-up, adjunct faculty)
Magica Bottari (Acting, adjunct faculty)
Has worked with numerous Chicago theatres over her twenty-year career including The Bog, Steppenwolf, Remains, Chicago Shakespeare, Neo-Futurists, Doorika, New Crime, Blind Parrot, City Lit, Trap Door and Victory Gardens. Ms. Bottari most recently appeared on stage as Miss Maudie in To Kill A Mockingbird with The Bog Theatre and as Emilia in Desdemona: A Play About A Handkerchief, which played at the Sanford Meisner Theatre in New York City. She has also appeared in the yet to be released feature films Silent Shame and Drunkboat. On the small screen, Magica can currently be seen on PBS’ Literacy Link. She has also done a good deal of commercial work, most of it airing outside of Chicago.
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Ann Boyd (Body Movement, adjunct faculty)
Performer, choreographer, director, writer and teacher. This past year she directed the Sweat Girls in Sweatily Ever After, choreographed Dead Man's Cell Phone at Steppenwolf, created a 10 person physical theater piece in 10 hours for Collaboraction’s Sketchbook, performed her solo No Time Like the Present at Finch Gallery, directed Maia Morgan's solo And now, the octopus for Live Bait's Filet of Solo Festival, directed Arlene Malinowski's one-woman show Aiming for Sainthood at 16th Street Theater in Berwyn and performed her original contemporary fairy-tale Naguales at Chicago Public Schools as part of Urban Gateways Touring Program. Ann is currently teaching body movement for actors at Columbia College, solo performance at the University of Chicago and drama for 4-9 year olds at Greeley School. Ann’s teaching is influenced by her interdisciplinary approach to making work and draws upon viewpoints and constraint-based composition as generative tools.
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Gigi Buffington (Voice, Acting, adjunct faculty)
AEA, SAG, AFTRA, VASTA. Voice and text coach, voice over artist, and performer. She recently worked on the 2008 season at the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) on Chief Associate Artistic Director Greg Doran's productions of, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet (with David Tennant and Patrick Stewart), and Love’s Labour’s Lost. She led text workshops from the plays to teachers and university students at Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust, company warm ups for the acting ensemble in the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon, and one on one voice and text sessions to the acting company. She is one of two practitioners in the world, and the only American, trained by Patsy Rodenburg at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where she completed her Master's degree in Training Actors (Voice). She will receive a Post Graduate Award in, The Teaching of Shakespeare in Theory and Practice for Actors and Artists, from Warwick University in May ‘09. While living in the UK she led workshop intensives in Viewpoints & Composition for MadHouse Theatre Company at the Nemzeti Theatre in Budapest, Johnny Flynn and Company at Shunt, London, and at Rose Bruford College of Music & Drama.Inspired by Anne Bogart and the SITI Company she founded and is the artistic director of, Field House Lab, a company committed to exploring physical and vocal improvisation as a vehicle for creating original work. Field House Lab presented the world premiere of Orpheus Now, written & directed by Buffington at the city of Chicago's, Storefront Theater, in their 2004 - 2005 season.
Her film credits include the lead role in, Galileo's Grave, written & directed by Clayton Brown, Empathy, (official jury selection: Berlin, Jerusalem and Chicago International Film Festivals). Empathy received its US premiere at New York's Film Forum in January 2004; Paramount Pictures, Just Visiting, with Jean Reno and Christina Applegate; SAG independents, The Debilitales (Lead) and Growing Out of Us, written & directed by Daniel MacRae, Everything He Touched, written & directed by Nancy Kucke, and Thorndale, written & directed by Ryan Miller.
She wrote, directed and performed, The Prince Of Wales, with an original score by Randy Tressler, featured in the Chicago Humanities Festival: Words & Pictures. Her short story, Crushed, was featured in Midnight Mind and Band-it-lit magazines. She has been awarded three artist-in-residence grants to The Ragdale Foundation for her writing and served as a panelist.
Regional Theater highlights include Emily Dickinson in, The Belle Of Amherst, and the dual role of Geronte and the Amanuensis in, The Illusion, directed by Michael Cristofer. Also in New York, she performed in readings with Marsha Mason, Debra Monk, David Strathairn and Melissa Leo. She was a company member of Actors & Writers, with Ron Nyswaner, Nina Shengold, Mary Louise Wilson and Adam LeFevre among others.
An extensive career as a modern dancer included representing the United States in the Ballet Festival V in Trujillo, Peru. She performed in modern dance companies throughout Chicago and taught workshops and master classes in Modern and Jazz dance throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. She has choreographed productions for The Goodman Theatre, Remains Theatre Co. and ARTCO.She presented a voice study at the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 2005 Conference with Columbia College colleagues on effective methods and approaches used to solve persistent vocal problems in nasality and its effects on vowel formation.
She has served as vocal coach for CNN International working with bureau chiefs in Moscow, New Delhi and Lagos, and the managing editor of southeast Asia.She received her acting training in Meisner Technique in New York City with Maggie Flanigan (William Esper Studio) and Robert Neff Williams (Voice & Speech). She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia College Chicago and is a certified instructor of Soaring Crane Style Qi Gung. She is married to vocalist Steve Evans. www.steve-evans.com
Will Casey (Acting, adjunt faculty)
B.A., Theatre Arts, St. Edward's University, M.F.A., University of Southern California; actor; ensemble member of Famous Door Theatre Company; recipient of the Jack Nicholson Scholarship from the University of Southern California
Kate DeVore (Voice, adjunct faculty)
B.A., Theater, University of Maryland, M.A., Speech-language Pathology, University of Iowa; CCC-SLP; voice/speech pathologist, speech/dialect trainer, actor, personal development coach; operator of Total Voice; awarded the Clyde Vinson Award from VASTA
Andrea Dymond (Directing)
Jason Epperson (Production Coordinator)
Doreen Feitelberg (Voice, adjunct faculty)
B.A., English, Classics, University of the Witwatersrand; Speech, Drama, University of South Africa; Speech, Drama Teaching Licentiate, Trinity College, London; voice and acting coach, actor; Joseph Jefferson Award Committee Member; author of The Sound of Voices; awarded Honorary Life Vice-President of the South African College of Speech and Drama Teachers
Heather Gilbert* (Lighting Design)
Jeffrey Ginsberg* (Acting and Voice)
M.F.A., Yale School of Drama; actor, director and educator. As co-artistic Director of the National Jewish Theater for four years, he supervised, directed or acted in over twenty classics, as well as Chicago and world premieres. He was also co-artistic director of the Immediate Theater Company where he directed Jeff recognized productions of Seduced, Two Small Bodies, Apocalyptic Butterflies and Ragged Dick. Recent projects include (as director): The Last Letter, a solo performance from Vasily Grossman’s novel Life and Fate, performed at Spertus College and Columbia College, The Incredibly Famous Willy Rivers with the Sinnerman Ensemble (at The Viaduct Theater), Bernadine and Dina at the Neo-Futurists, the world premiere of Alex Kotlowitz’s and Amy Dorn’s An Unobstructed View at Pegasus Player’s Theatre (co-directed with Susan Padveen) and (as performer/creator): Walking Stick, an indie film from Grandville Yarnell Productions, Field House Lab’s inaugural production, Orpheus Now at the City of Chicago’s Storefront Theatre and an ongoing collaboration with Three Leaves Productions where he has worked on Growing Out of Us, and all three films comprising The Debilitales Trilogy. He has directed Project Upstart’s productions of Beckett’s Play and Harry Kondoleon’s The Fairy Garden and The Laramie Project for Performing Arts at Oakton College and his performance credits include Mercy at the University of Chicago, 12 Volt Heart at Northwestern University, a new theatre piece by Jeremy Cohen and Michael Elyanov based on the life of photojournalist Dan Eldon, Mark Ravenhill’s Shopping and Fucking at Bailiwick Repertory Theater and the Chicago premieres of The Heidi Chronicles, Sight Unseen and Exact Change. Jeff directed Morocco for Trap Door Theater, True West as the inaugural production of the Accidental Theater, The Pineapple Story for New Tuners Stages 2000, Caryl Churchill’s Ice Cream and Craig Lucas’ Blue Window for The School at Steppenwolf and two new plays for the Pegasus Players Young Playwrights Festival as well as co-directed (with Susan Padveen) Ken Lonergan’s The Waverly Gallery for that theater. He has taught at The School at Steppenwolf, Northwestern University’s ‘Cherub’ Program, The Actor’s Center, Center Theater’s Training Program and at Columbia College where he has been on the faculty for over twenty years and has directed productions of Spring Awakening, Reckless, The Diary of a Scoundrel, Leocadia, The Lucky Spot, The Waiting Room, The Wild Duck, Richard Nelson’s Goodnight Children Everywhere, Roland Schimmelphennig’s Push Up and most recently Jean-Claude Grumberg’s The Workroom. Jeff received a Presidential Scholar in the Arts Teaching Award and has twice been nominated for an Excellence in Teaching Award from Columbia College. He is a graduate of Boston University’s School of the Arts and the Yale School of Drama.
Gwenne Godwin (Master Electrician)
John Green (Department Chair)
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Kristen Hill (Stage Make-up, adjunct faculty)
B.A., Interdisciplinary Arts, Columbia College; freelance make-up artist and designer
Tom Keiffer (Costume Shop Foreman)
B.A., Communication, M.A., Theater, Bowling Green State University; freelance costume designer, actor, singer; Joseph Jefferson Award-winning designer
Caroline Dodge Latta* (Acting)
Caroline Dodge Latta began at Columbia in 1981 as a part time faculty member in the Theater Department, became an Artist in Residence, and in 1986 joined the ranks of the full time tenured faculty. She teaches acting at various skill levels: basic skills, scene study, advanced scene study and the acting III styles Shakespeare; she is also a director. For the past four years she has led a summer student trip to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario. She is the Director of the Liberace scholarship competition and the internship coordinator for the Theater Department. She is also a consultant evaluator for the Higher Learning Commission.
Professor Latta received her B.A. in Theater from the University of Maine at Orono in 1969 and her M.A.(1971) and Ph.D. (1973) in Theater from the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana. She has taught at Case Western Reserve University, Worcester Polytechnic, the University of Illinois Chicago, and Northwestern University among others.
She is a professional actress in Chicago as well and has worked with such companies as Journeymen Theater, Citadel Theatre, City Lit Theater Company and Remy Bumppo. She recently performed as Mercedes in Adam Bock’s Thugs at Profiles Theater.
Dr. Latta was Dean of Columbia from 1994-2001 and was awarded the title of Distinguished Professor of Theater by the President for her service to the College.
Anastasia Platt-Lubin (Properties Master)
Julie Lutgen (Department Receptionist)
B.A., Theater, Design Concentration, Columbia College; freelance set designer, adjunct faculty
Michael Maddox (Technical Director)
B.A., Purdue University; freelance set designer
Frances Maggio* (Costume Design)
M.F.A., Costume Design, DePaul University; freelance costume designer
Ed Mazzocco (Office Manager/Administrative Assistant)
B.A., Journalism, Eastern Illinois University; full-time staff member; staff editor Daily Eastern News; staff reporter Charleston (IL) Times-Courier
Terry McCabe* (Directing)
M.F.A., Directing, Northwestern University; freelance director;
artistic director of City Lit Theater and author of Mis-Directing the Play: an Argument against Contemporary Theatre (Ivan R. Dee Inc; hardback 2001, paperback 2008).
John McFarland (Stage Combat, adjunct faculty)
B.F.A., Theatre Performance, Wayne State University, M.F.A., Performance, Brandeis University; actor, fight director, Movement, Acting & Voice Coach; Co-Founder and former coordinator for Largest Regional Stage Combat Workshop in the nation, The Winter Wonderland Workshop
Bradley Mott* (Acting)
B.S.S., Theater, Northwestern University; freelance actor
Tom Mula* (Acting, Playwrighting, and Make-up)
B.F.A., University of Illinois; award-winning actor; director, playwright, makeup artist; winner of Joseph Jefferson Award for The Golem and Sylvia's Real Good Advice; author, Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol
Chicago actor, director, and playwright for more than 30 years. His plays W!, The Golem, and his work on Nicole Hollander's Sylvia's Real Good Advice were all recognized by the Joseph Jefferson Committee; he is also the proud author of Almighty Bob. His novel Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol was published in 1995 by Adams Media; it was a Chicago Tribune bestseller. The audio version was broadcast nationwide on NPR for six seasons; the play received the Cunningham Prize from the Goodman School of Drama at DePaul. It premiered in 1998 at Chicago's Goodman Theatre (also directed by Steve Scott), was Jeff-nominated, and received an After Dark Award. Since then, it has received hundreds of productions nationally and worldwide, including productions in South Africa and Australia.
Some of Mr. Mula's acting credits include Hot Mikado at Drury Lane, for which he received an After Dark Award and a Joseph Jefferson Award; Lawrence in Christine Thatcher's Emma's Child; the Fool in King Lear; Richard III, Caliban, Bottom, Feste, Malvolio, and Prospero; another award-winning solo turn in The Circus Of Dr. Lao; and seven seasons (over 400 performances) as Goodman Theatre's Scrooge. His directing credits include Jeff nominations for Porch and A Life, and the world premiere of Larry Shue's last play, Wenceslas Square in Chicago and at the Queens' Festival in Belfast.
Mula was Artistic Director of the Oak Park Festival Theatre for seven years, directing or appearing in As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Richard III, Midsummer Night’s Dream, and his own adaptations of Dr. Faustus and Henry IV pts. I and 2, titled Falstaff. Mula has spent fifteen summers at Peninsula Players in Door County Wisconsin. There he has directed productions of Amadeus, Lion in Winter, Red Herring, and Greetings, among others. He has appeared there in Cabaret, Cherry Orchard, Art, and far too many farces.
Mr. Mula has taught in the Theater Department at Columbia College for more than twenty years, most of them as an Artist-in-Residence. There he has directed Tartuffe; co-directed Ragtime, MacBeth, and Romeo and Juliet with Sheldon Patinkin; and appeared in Take Me Along and Twelfth Night.
Claire Nolan (Acting, adjunct faculty)
B.F.A., Music/Theater, Illinois Wesleyan University; writer, actor, director, private coach; founding member of The Sweat Girls, previous Artistic Director of the Blind Parrot, adjunct faculty at Seabury/ Western Theological Seminary, core professor for Association of Chicago Theological Schools Doctor of Ministry in Preaching Program; recipient of two Joseph Jefferson Award Citations
Cecilie O'Reilly* (Voice and Acting)
B.S., AEA, Theater and Education, Illinois Wesleyan University; B.A., Music, Columbia College Chicago; training at A.C.T.: The American Conservatory Theater Training Center; freelance actress, singer, director and voice and accent coach, recipient of Lilly Diversity Grant.
Dialect Coach for Steppenwolf Summer ’08 production Superior Donuts starring Michael McKean of Spinal Tap and “Laverne and Shirley” and Fall ’08 productions: Dublin Carol starring William Peterson of CBS’s “CSI”, Seafarer starring John Mahoney of NBC’s “Frasier” and August: Osage County – the 2008 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play that has just moved to London’s National Theatre. Will direct Impossible Marriage by Beth Henley in the Columbia Theater Department New Studio 1st week of February 2009. Dialect coach for Regina Taylor’s Magnolia at Goodman Theatre Spring 2009.
Susan Padveen* (Directing)
M.A., Depaul University, School for New Learning; freelance director; former co-Artistic Director, National Jewish Theater; co-Director, Green Room Project, member Joseph Jefferson Committee A/T Team
Sheldon Patinkin* (Directing, Acting)
M.A., English, University of Chicago; Artistic Consultant to The Second City and Steppenwolf Theatre, author of The Second City: Backstage at the World's Greatest Comedy Theater & Keeping Up With the Times: A History of the American Musical
Jacqueline Penrod* (Set Design)
USAA. B.F.A., University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana; She has design professionally for over twenty five years, individually and as a partner in Penrod Design. Recent designs include Around the World in 80 Days for Lookingglass Theatre, Love’s Labour’s Lost for Milwaukee Shakespeare, Philadelphia Story for Remy Bumpo. Has received many awards for her design work. Former resident designer, National Jewish Theater, Member of the steering committee for the Michael Merritt Awards and Scholarship program.
Kathleen Perkins* (Acting)
M.F.A., University of Minnesota; 1999 Carnegie Foundation Scholar; Professional Theater Program Fellow, University of Michigan; freelance actress and director
Susan Philpot (Dialects, adjunct faculty)
Freelance actress and dialect coach
Keith Pitts* (Lighting Design)
Brian Posen (Acting, Improv, adjunct faculty)
B.A., Psychology, B.A., Criminal Justice, Indiana University; B.A., Theater, Columbia College; M.F.A., Acting, University of Illinois; actor, director, producer, musician; Executive Producer, Lukaba Productions; Artistic Director, Chicago Sketch Musical Comedy, The Cupid Players, Broutil & Frothingham; Recipient of the Charles and Harriett Luckman Excellence in Teaching Award
David Puszkiewicz (Production Manager, adjunct faculty)
B.A. St. Mary’s University, freelance manager/technician; Mayor’s Office of Special Events; Ravenswood Event Services; Chicago Event Management; Jack Morton; Chicago Scenic Studios; Big Creek Productions; founding member, Absolute Theater Co.; St. Nicholas Theater Co. New Work Ensemble, Player’s Workshop of Second City.
Barbara Robertson (Acting, adjunct faculty)
B.F.A., University of Illinois; award-winning actress
Patricia Roeder (Costume Shop Manager)
B.S., Loyola University, freelance costume designer and stitcher
Michael Ryczek (Academic Manager)
directed over 30 shows in the Chicagoland area, most recently, MARVIN’S ROOM at Redtwist Theatre. He is the former Managing Director of Lookingglass Theatre and the former Artistic Director of Reflection’s Theatre. He received his Master’s degree in theatre from Northwestern University and his undergraduate degree in theatre from Roosevelt University. He is currently the President of the board of Season of Concern and a member of the Joseph Jefferson Artistic Committee. He continues to perform his one-man show Ten Seconds around the Chicagoland area
MFA Iowa Writers Workshop,University of Iowa; MFA Iowa Playwrights' Festival, University of Iowa, commissioned by the BBC, the Guthrie Theatre, Portland Stage Company, Ensemble Studio Theatre, recipient TCG/NEA Playwrights Fellowship and CEC Artslink International Fellowship, Iowa Arts Council Fellowship, BBC International Playwriting Award, Tampa Bay Performing Arts Award, and grants form the NEA, Iowa Arts Council, Bush Foundation.
Brian Shaw* (Associate Department Chair)
M.A., School for New Learning, DePaul University; freelance actor and director; founding member of the physical theater company Plasticene; engaged in community-based performance with Association House of Chicago and Free Street programs
Stephanie Shaw* (Acting and Musical Theater)
B.A., Columbia College Chicago; member, The Neofuturists; freelance actor and director
Nana Shineflug* (Movement)
M.A., Interdisciplinary Arts, Columbia College Chicago; dancer, choreographer; performance artist; photographer; founder and Artistic Director, The Chicago Moving Company; recipient, 1990 Ruth Page Award and 1996 Columbia College Lifetime Achievement Award
Catherine Slade* (Voice)
B.A., Columbia College Chicago; freelance actress and director; founding member, The Working Theater, New York; founder and Artistic Director, Manhattan Bridge Company, New York; member of Kristen Linklater's Company of Woman, Harvard University
Chuck Smith* (Acting, Directing, retired)
B.A., Theater Management, Governors State University; actor, director, producer; Emmy Award winner; recipient, Arts Midwest Minority Arts Administration Fellowship; Artistic Associate, Goodman Theatre
Estelle Spector* (Musical Theater)
Freelance director and choreographer; member Joseph Jefferson Award Committee
Craig Spidle (Acting, adjunct faculty)
B.F.A., University of Nebraska; M.F.A., Illinois State University; freelance actor, director; Joseph Jefferson Award nominee
Joe Szaday (Head, Audio Visual Dept.)
A/V Coordinator for the Columbia College Theater Department and Working Musician. Teaches bass and Guitar on the weekends and will be recording a live album with ‘Azure Play’ in January 2009. Performs regularly with 'The Billy Nicks Trio', 'JWQ', ‘Azure Play’ and 'Crystal Blue Jazz'. Recent album: We Three Strings with Bryan Lubeck, Johannes Linstead and Tomas Michaud which was voted in the Top 10 must have Smooth Jazz Christmas albums of 2006 by WNUA in Chicago. Sound Designed for the CCC Theater Department Productions of ‘Romeo & Juliet’ and ‘The Playboy Of The Western World’.
Suzanne Thompson (Feldenkrais Movement, adjunct faculty)
M.A., Theater, Speech Therapy, East Texas State University; post-graduate work, Dallas Theatre Center; actor, director, choreographer, certified Feldenkrais practicioner; teaching faculty, Victory Gardens Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Professional School
Kendra Thulin* (Voice)
Amy Uhl* (Musical Theater Dance, Musical Theater Dance Coordinator)
Union affiliations: AEA, SSDC, IATSE Local 798
Amy holds a B.A. in Drama and Communications/Broadcasting from Jacksonville State University. She joined Columbia College Chicago’s full time faculty in Fall ’07 as the Musical Theater
Dance Coordinator. Recent department credits include Pirates of Penzance (choreographer) and A Christmas Carol (director/choreographer). Amy has worked as an actress, singer, dancer, director/choreographer and teacher for over 20 years in New York City. She continues to work as a freelance Director/Choreographer and has also been a member of the hair/make-up department for such Broadway productions as Spamalot, Beauty and the Beast, All Shook Up, Dracula, Little Women and 42nd Street. As a performer, Amy played Hunyak in Chicago starring John Davidson and Gertie in Oklahoma! starring Sandy Duncan both at Cherry County Playhouse. Amy has appeared in several regional and touring productions of A Chorus Line performing the roles of Cassie, Sheila, and Bebe under the direction of Baayork Lee, Mitzi Hamilton, and Dennis Edenfield. Additional regional credits include Charity in Sweet Charity, Velma in Chicago, & Anita in West Side Story. Some regional director/choreographer highlights include Oklahoma! starring Sandy Duncan, Guys & Dolls starring Eddie Mekka, A Chorus Line (award winning production), and Beauty & the Beast. Amy has been on faculty at STEPS dance studio in New York City. She has also been on faculty at New Jersey School of Ballet, Wagner College and Ithaca College.
Dance Coordinator. Recent department credits include Pirates of Penzance (choreographer) and A Christmas Carol (director/choreographer). Amy has worked as an actress, singer, dancer, director/choreographer and teacher for over 20 years in New York City. She continues to work as a freelance Director/Choreographer and has also been a member of the hair/make-up department for such Broadway productions as Spamalot, Beauty and the Beast, All Shook Up, Dracula, Little Women and 42nd Street. As a performer, Amy played Hunyak in Chicago starring John Davidson and Gertie in Oklahoma! starring Sandy Duncan both at Cherry County Playhouse. Amy has appeared in several regional and touring productions of A Chorus Line performing the roles of Cassie, Sheila, and Bebe under the direction of Baayork Lee, Mitzi Hamilton, and Dennis Edenfield. Additional regional credits include Charity in Sweet Charity, Velma in Chicago, & Anita in West Side Story. Some regional director/choreographer highlights include Oklahoma! starring Sandy Duncan, Guys & Dolls starring Eddie Mekka, A Chorus Line (award winning production), and Beauty & the Beast. Amy has been on faculty at STEPS dance studio in New York City. She has also been on faculty at New Jersey School of Ballet, Wagner College and Ithaca College.
Andra Velis-Simon (Musical Director)
Andra has worked with nearly 50 arts organizations in and around Chicago. As a Music Director, Vocal Director, Arranger and Accompanist, she has worked with BoHo, City Lit, Defiant (RIP), Emerald City, Hell in a Handbag, The Hypocrites, Lifeline, Open Eye, Rivendell, Signal, Stage Left, Strawdog, Theatre Building Chicago, and many others. She also toured for three summers with Wavelength, a comedy troupe that performs for educators across the country. Areas of special expertise include the development of new musical theatre works and coaching vocalists at all skill levels. Andra also worked for many years in arts administration, and has extensive experience in media relations, marketing, fundraising, special events, and institutional management. She served as the Managing Director of The Neo-Futurists, Marketing Director of Court Theatre, and in the fundraising department at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. As a freelance arts management consultant, her client list included some of the Chicago area’s most celebrated arts institutions, such as Next Theatre, About Face, and Victory Gardens.
Wendi Weber (Acting, adjunct faculty)
Albert Williams* (Musical Theater)
B.A., Music, Columbia College; singer; actor; musical theater composer and librettist; chief theater critic, Chicago Reader; winner, George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism and Peter Lisagor Award for Outstanding Arts Journalism; member, City of Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame.
Celeste Williams (Acting, adjunct faculty)
B.A., Journalism, B.A., Theatre, St. Mary's University, M.F.A., Acting, Graduate Fellow, University of Illinois; actor; Co-founder, Onyx Theatre Ensemble; four-time Joseph Jefferson Award nominee
Dennis Wise* (Movement)
B.F.A., Dance, Brigham Young University; community performance director
David Woolley* (Stage Combat)
B.F.A., Acting, Goodman School of Drama, DePaul University; Fight Master, Society of American Fight Directors; recipient, Joseph Jefferson Award for Consistent Excellence in Stage Combat; recipient, Off-Loop Theater Award for Best Fight Direction; freelance actor and fight director