Faculty Spotlight
Faculty
Paul Amandes
Instructional Areas
Paul has been teaching for Columbia College Chicago for the 30 years. His favorite subjects include: Playwriting, Writing for Musical Theatre, and Acting.
Brittany Anderson
Instructional Areas
Movement, Physical Theatre, Physical Comedy, Acrobatics, Dialects and Vocal Training, Devising
Bevara Anderson
Instructional Areas
Umfundalai, House Footwork, Modern, Horton, Contemporary Ballet
Karen Berger-Nolte
Instructional Areas
Stage Makeup, Multi-Media Makeup, Wig Dressing
Kristi Bramlett
Instructional Areas
Acting, Musical Theatre, Theatre Foundations, Theatre Making, Physical Approaches, Ensemble Building, Laban, and Stanislavsky
Daryl Brooks
Michael Brown
Instructional Areas
Physical Theatre; Devised Theatre; Collaborative Creation; Clown and Comic Theatre; Movement; Mask Performance; Lecoq-based approaches to Actor Training
David Castellanos
Instructional Areas
Currently I am teaching Stage Management 1, Production Management, Theater Crew, and Stage Management Practicum. My field of mastery is Stage Management and my area of interest is Leadership and Management.
Jeremy Cohn
Instructional Areas
Acting, Voice, Movement, Alexander Technique, Classical Text
Emma Draves
Instructional Areas
Dance Studies, Contemporary/Modern Techniques, Ballet Techniques
Nelli Fritjofson
Heather Gilbert
Instructional Areas
Live Entertainment Lighting, focused in theatre and dance, additional interest in Concert. Collaboration for Theatre Designers and Directors, Period Styles, Intro to Design.
Lisa Gonzales
Instructional Areas
choreography, improvisation, creative process, performance, contemporary technique, experiential anatomy
JulieAnn Graham
Instructional Areas
JulieAnn's classes are a unique blend of Bartenieff Fundamentals ( a movement re-education looking at patterns of ease and connectivity), Improvisation, Laban, Yoga, meditation, and devised theatre.
Torrence Griffin
Sami Hussain Ismat
Instructional Areas
Directing, Performance Art, Devised Theatre, Participatory and Immersive Theatre, Site-Specific and Eco-Performance, Embodied Research and Writing, Intercultural and Polycultural Performance, Puppetry, Performance as Activism and Applied Theatre, Verbatim and Documentary Practices, Hybrid Performance and Media Storytelling, Migration and Identity in Performance, Contemporary Challenges in Performance (Conflict, Trauma, Resilience), and Sustainable Approaches to Theatre Production.
Joe Janes
Instructional Areas
Sketch comedy writing, satirical essays, stand-up, physical comedy, comedy history.
Donterrio Johnson
Darrell Jones
Instructional Areas
Contemporary Dance Technique, Improvisation, Performance, Vogue Aesthetics, Contact Improvisation
Lori Klinka
Instructional Areas
I love teaching many different acting classes. I also teach Speaking Out which is a public speaking class. It's important to me to teach as many practical real world skills as possible such as interviewing and auditioning skills. Information about how the acting business works and how to apply good communication skills to advance in any career you choose.
Anne Libera
Instructional Areas
Comedy Writing and Performance, Improvisation
Frances Maggio
Instructional Areas
Crafts including, millinery, gloves, neckwear and surface embellishments. Textile Painting and Dying. Painting and drawing as communication. Linking text to style and the impact of design in this exploration
Cyndi Maxey
Instructional Areas
I teach a presentation (speaking) and communicating course in the Theater Department called Speaking Out. I designed the course, coauthored one of the texts, and supply updated adjacent articles each new term.
Timothy McCain
Instructional Areas
Playwriting. Theater Arts. Physical Theater. Devised Theatre. Text Analysis. Dramaturgy. Acting. Traditions of World Theatre.
Emily McConnell
Dardi McGinley-Gallivan
Instructional Areas
Dance Pedagogy, Modern Technique (all levels), BFA Capstone Seminar
Clare Nolan
Instructional Areas
Special Interests: The Viewpoints, Contact Improv, the work of Augusto Boal, the work of Kristin Linklater & Patsy Rodenburg, the acting/theatremaking methodologies developed by companies such as Rash Dash, Theatre Complicite & Frantic Assembly. Integrating Voice/Movement/physically-based approaches with more classic Stanislavski-based acting approaches to give students an increasingly kinesthetic experience and approach to the work, Solo Performance (writing & performance- 25 + years experience), Exploring the Relationship with Audience, Collaborative Teaching Across Disciplines, Non-Naturalistic Theatre (served as Artistic Director, Literary Manager, Blind Parrot Productions- focus on non-naturalistic theatre & company-developed work).
Scott Olson
Instructional Areas
All levels of Acting classes including Foundations II, Scenes Performance & Analysis, Advanced Acting Workshop, Character & Ensemble, Intro to Audition
Grace Overbeke
Instructional Areas
Comedy Studies, Theatre for Social Change, Jewish Performance, Theatre History
Kelsa Rieger-Haywood
Instructional Areas
Dance technique in Hip-Hop and related Afro-diasporic dance forms (house, popping, locking, breaking), the histories, and sociocultural context of these forms, dance studies, hip-hop studies, dance pedagogy, culturally sustaining pedagogy, community cultural development, social practice dance, dance improvisation and composition
Amy Rivera
Instructional Areas
- Acting in musical theatre and vocal performance - Theatre directing and education with an emphasis on empowering students - Fostering inclusivity and representation in theatre - Mentoring students in playwriting and script development - Guiding students to explore personal and cultural experiences through performance - Teaching theatre history, analysis, and global practices - Advocating for diversity in theatre and creating opportunities for underrepresented communities - Providing an international perspective on theatre and performance from abroad experiences - Inspiring and equipping the next generation of theatre artists
Daniel Rivera
Brian Shaw
Instructional Areas
Acting, Community Arts Practice, Theater Research
Stephanie Shaw
Instructional Areas
Creating new work with Solo Performance Artists. Instructor for Directing B.A.
Catherine Slade
Instructional Areas
Voice and Performance Vocal Education Through Poetry Sound Sense And Text Memories and Breath
Kendra Thulin
Instructional Areas
Voice and Language, Shakespeare, Modern Poetic, Vocal Technique, Theatre Foundations, Accents and Dialects
Richard Walker
Instructional Areas
Improvisation Comedy Performance Acting Silent Comedy Stand UP Character Work On-Camera Comedy Writing Storytelling
Ayo Walker
Instructional Areas
Theatre, Hip-Hop /Street, Postmodern and Contemporary dance, as well as Afro-Hip Hop and jazz dances.
Wendi Weber
Instructional Areas
Meisner Technique, Viewpoints Technique, On-Camera Work, New Play Development, Auditioning, Realism, Shakespeare
Meghann Wilkinson
Instructional Areas
Dance technique, Dance improvisation, Movement for the Actor
John Williams
Instructional Areas
Musical Theatre Technique and Analysis, Vocal Pedagogy, Healthy Speech and Singing Practices.
Albert Williams
Instructional Areas
Theatre history, text analysis, musical theatre history, Chicago theatre history, theatre in Chicago, musical theatre
