Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Donald Margulies and Tony Award-winning Swanlund Professor, Daniel Sullivan discussed their long history of collaborating on plays from off-Broadway to Broadway and beyond. The conversation on April 1, 2016 at the Knight Auditorium in the Spurlock Museum was filled with laughter, stories, advice, and a charge to pursue your passion in theatre….
Illinois Theatre is moving up in the rankings! College Factual, a nationwide ranking service, has ranked Theatre at Illinois as the #2 undergraduate program in the category of Drama and Theatre Arts. This is a step ahead of our #3 ranking from the recent past. As a part of this ranking, College Factual takes into…
Illinois Theatre hosted a conversation between MFA alumna, Sandra Marquez and Professor Lisa Gaye Dixon on September 14, 2016 at the Knight Auditorium in the Spurlock Museum. Marquez is an actor, director and educator, as well as a longtime ensemble member of Teatro Vista, the Midwest’s only Equity Latino theater company. She was recently inducted…
Alumni Tyrone Phillips (BFA 2012) and Nathan Alan Davis (BFA 2005) kicked off our season with a splash. Our production of Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea caught the attention of members from the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, students, faculty, and community members. We offered two very well-attended talkbacks for patrons with Tyrone Phillips, Professor Peter…
Illinois Theatre MFA alumnus, Brandon J. Dirden engaged in a conversation with Rob Weinert-Kendt, the Editor-in-Chief of American Theatre on November 6, 2015 at the Knight Auditorium in the Spurlock Museum. Dirden is an award-winning American actor, best known for portraying Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Tony Award-winning Broadway production of All The Way….
In early September, we continued the annual tradition of Impulse 24/7, when students come together to write, direct, rehearse, and perform original scenes—all in a 24-hour period. This year brought about the largest participation yet, with nearly 50 undergraduate and graduate theatre students working to create eight original scenes, which were performed in the packed…
A dozen lighting students visited a technical rehearsal for the hit musical Hamilton at the PrivateBank Theatre in Chicago. This visit included a tour of the set, observation of the tech process—with headsets for each student so they could listen to conversations taking place—and a discussion with Tony Award-winning lighting designer Howell Binkley. Professor Robert…
Alumna Bri Sudia (MFA 2012) has taken Chicago by storm in Mary Zimmerman’s new production of Wonderful Town at the Goodman Theatre. Chicago Tribune theatre critic Chris Jones calls casting Bri Sudia the “masterstroke of the production” and her performance both “brilliant” and “career-making.” The Tribune also featured Sudia in an article on her experience…
Morgan Holbrook – BFA in Stage Management – Just finished The Cherry Orchard starring Diane Lane and Joel Grey. Recent Broadway credits include Blackbird with Jeff Daniels and Michelle Williams; The Gin Game with James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson; and The Audience with Helen Mirren.
Jeff Zahos works with music, sound, and movement with the body as the point of genesis. He has been in various roles as an artist in dance; musician, sound designer, composer, and dancer, in Illinois, California, and New York. His frequent collaborators have included Sara Hook, Tamin Totzke, Grant Bowen, Alana Parekh, and Johanna Meyer. …