Chicago College Announces Featured Speakers For Theatre Symposium 5/18-22

Esteemed British theatre critic Michael Billington of the The Guardian, Steppenwolf Theatre artistic director Martha Lavey, veteran Chicago theatre critic Richard Christiansen, and noted theatre teacher, journalist, and critic Todd London will be among featured speakers at Chicago – Theatre Capital of America: Past. Present. Future, an international symposium on Chicago theatre to be presenTed May 18-22, 2011, by the Theatre Department of Columbia College.
 
The symposium will bring together scholars and theatre artists from around the world to discuss the history of Chicago Theatre Over the last half-century and the future of Chicago as a leading center of interNational Theatre. Over four days of presentations, panels, workshops, and performances, the event 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 global communication.

"Chicago theatre has evolved from a grassroots movement to a global phenomenon over the last half-century," said AlBert Williams, a senior lecturer at the Columbia College Theatre Department, award-winning theatre critic for the Chicago Reader, and a member of the symposium planning committee. "By bringing together theatre scholars and theatre artists – veterans of the field, but also the emerging generation that will shape the cultural future of our world – we hope to provide a forum for creative thinking about the kinds of sustainable innovations necessary to keep theatre alive, growing, and relevant to a new century."
 
Chicago--Theatre Capital of America: Past. Present. Future 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 of the U.K's The Guardian newspaper, wrote in 2004. Chicago--Theatre Capital of America: Past. Present. Future is believed to be the first undertaking of its kind, offering scholars, historians, critics, students, and practicing professionals a chance to share their intimate, often personal knowledge of Chicago's theatrical past with visions for the future.
 
"What excites me about this project is the prospect of theatre artists, theatre scholars, and the community gathering at Columbia College for four days of celebration, investigation, stimulation, and speculation over the future of this unique cultural phenomenon we call Chicago theatre," added Dr. John Green, chair of the Columbia College Theatre Department.

For this event, Columbia will partner with city agencies, cultural and philanthropic organizations, and other institutions of higher learning in the area, including the Chicago Public Library, the League of Chicago Theatres, the Dramatists Guild, Free Street Theater, the Chicago Theatre History Project, and Valparaiso University.
 
A Call for Papers has been issued with a September 1 deadline. Emerging scholars are especially encouraged to participate. For more information, visit http://www.colum.edu/theatresymposium or contact AlBert Williams, senior lecturer, Columbia College Theatre Department, at 312-369-6141 or awilliams@colum.edu. Dr. John Green, chair of the Columbia College Theatre Department, can be reached at 312-369-6160, jgreen@colum.edu.

Columbia College Chicago is an urban institution that offers innovative degree programs in the visual, performing, media and communication arts to more than 12,000 students in over 120 undergraduate and graduate programs. An arts and media college committed to a rigorous liberal arts curriculum, Columbia is dedicated to opportunity and excellence in higher education. For further information, visit www.colum.edu.

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