Theatre Center
72 East 11th St.
The Theatre Center offers a dynamic hub for live performance on campus and is a lively part of Chicago鈥檚 artistic scene. The Center鈥檚 four performance venues incorporate student talent in everything from acting to set design. Each season includes student productions and Mainstage productions, directed by department faculty and professional guest artists.
The Theatre Center has a variety of performance and production venues for Columbia's plays, musicals, concerts and directing projects, including the historic Getz Theater.
Mainstage productions are directed by department faculty and professional guest artists; are cast from the student population; and are designed by student design majors in collaboration with other departments in the college that are engaged in the use of new technologies.
Upcoming Events:
- September 17 is Black Theatre Day, a celebration designed to acknowledge the vitality and vibrancy of Black theatre in the United States. As part of those celebrations, the School of Theatre and Dance is hosting a presentation and performative activities centered on the African diaspora, led by Theatre faculty member: Michael Pogue. Photo credit: International Black...
- Dance technique, a foundational specificity that is able to be repeated, is a form of entrainment - making something part of a flow and carrying it along. It is the source of all codified dances and how all codified dances are created and embodied. Anything that flows or carries forward is naturally susceptible to adaptation,...
- Ayodele Drum and Dance debuts its first standalone concerts at the Dance Center with the company鈥檚 repertoire of masquerade works in honor of Halloween, a spoken word piece, and a new drum piece created by Ayodele鈥檚 Founding Executive/Artistic Director and Dance Center faculty T. Ayo Alston inspired by her training with Merveilles de Guin茅e based...
- Ayodele Drum and Dance debuts its first standalone concerts at the Dance Center with the company鈥檚 repertoire of masquerade works in honor of Halloween, a spoken word piece, and a new drum piece created by Ayodele鈥檚 Founding Executive/Artistic Director and Dance Center faculty T. Ayo Alston inspired by her training with Merveilles de Guin茅e based...
- The coveted platform for student choreographers to share original, short works on the Dance Center鈥檚 stage, where the audience is as dynamic as the performances. The Friday matinee will feature an opening performance by Realize program participants 鈥 Chicago Public High School students earning college credit at the Dance Center. Faculty Advisor: Kelsa Rieger-Haywood. ...
- The coveted platform for student choreographers to share original, short works on the Dance Center鈥檚 stage, where the audience is as dynamic as the performances. The Friday matinee will feature an opening performance by Realize program participants 鈥 Chicago Public High School students earning college credit at the Dance Center. Faculty Advisor: Kelsa Rieger-Haywood. ...
- The coveted platform for student choreographers to share original, short works on the Dance Center鈥檚 stage, where the audience is as dynamic as the performances. The Friday matinee will feature an opening performance by Realize program participants 鈥 Chicago Public High School students earning college credit at the Dance Center. Faculty Advisor: Kelsa Rieger-Haywood. ...
- The world premiere holiday show by Founder and Director of Vision and Strategy Kia S. Smith, Lamentations for Peace, is South Chicago Dance Theatre鈥檚 third evening length work by the 9-year-old company. 鈥淚 want families and audience members to feel like now you can get into the holiday season and when you leave the theater,...
- The world premiere holiday show by Founder and Director of Vision and Strategy Kia S. Smith, Lamentations for Peace, is South Chicago Dance Theatre鈥檚 third evening length work by the 9-year-old company. 鈥淚 want families and audience members to feel like now you can get into the holiday season and when you leave the theater,...
- Translated as 鈥減ower鈥 from the Nguni languages Xhosa and Zulu, these culminating concerts of 2025 at the Dance Center feature works by visiting choreographer Monique Haley and faculty Bevara Anderson and Kelsa Rieger-Haywood set on students in one of the most popular Dance courses: Repertory Performance Workshop. Originally created by Dance Center founder Shirley Mordine,...
- Translated as 鈥減ower鈥 from the Nguni languages Xhosa and Zulu, these culminating concerts of 2025 at the Dance Center feature works by visiting choreographer Monique Haley and faculty Bevara Anderson and Kelsa Rieger-Haywood set on students in one of the most popular Dance courses: Repertory Performance Workshop. Originally created by Dance Center founder Shirley Mordine,...
- The 2026 celebration of Hip Hop & Street Dance Culture co-curated by faculty Daniel BRAVEMONK Haywood and Kelsa K-SOUL Rieger-Haywood centers on the theme B-PRESENT: a call to gather and move鈥攑hysically, soulfully, and energetically鈥攚ith awareness, intention, and deep connection to the sounds, the space, the culture, the legacies, our inner selves, and one another. ...
- The Chicago premiere of Floe鈥痜its into a set of The Seldoms鈥 repertory about environmental issues and that the new normal is change. Research in the creation of the work included learning from locals affected by the Wisconsin floods of 2018, the sea ice changes at the Arctic鈥檚 Beaufort Sea Lagoon, and Houston鈥檚 Hurricane Harvey, revealing...
- The Chicago premiere of Floe鈥痜its into a set of The Seldoms鈥 repertory about environmental issues and that the new normal is change. Research in the creation of the work included learning from locals affected by the Wisconsin floods of 2018, the sea ice changes at the Arctic鈥檚 Beaufort Sea Lagoon, and Houston鈥檚 Hurricane Harvey, revealing...
- For its 50th anniversary season, Natya Dance Theatre (NDT) continues to share important milestones in NDT鈥檚 rich history at the Dance Center. In 2001, NDT made its Dance Center debut and celebrated its 25th anniversary with a 3-day international conference, Bharatanatyam in the Diaspora, convening scholars and artists from India, Europe, and North America. Subsequent...
- For its 50th anniversary season, Natya Dance Theatre (NDT) continues to share important milestones in NDT鈥檚 rich history at the Dance Center. In 2001, NDT made its Dance Center debut and celebrated its 25th anniversary with a 3-day international conference, Bharatanatyam in the Diaspora, convening scholars and artists from India, Europe, and North America. Subsequent...
- For its 50th anniversary season, Natya Dance Theatre (NDT) continues to share important milestones in NDT鈥檚 rich history at the Dance Center. In 2001, NDT made its Dance Center debut and celebrated its 25th anniversary with a 3-day international conference, Bharatanatyam in the Diaspora, convening scholars and artists from India, Europe, and North America. Subsequent...
