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News & Events

From Student to Leader: Meet Chava Novogrodsky-Godt, The Theatre School’s New Assistant Director of Admissions

Originally from San Francisco, California, Chava moved to Chicago in 2020 to attend The Theatre School at DePaul University, where she earned her BFA in Comedy Arts with a minor in Women and Gender Studies in 2024. During her undergraduate years, Novogrodsky-Godt gained valuable experience working in The Theatre School's admissions office for four years. 


“One of my favorite parts of my time at DePaul was being a part of the admissions team, running events, and connecting with prospective students and families,” Novogrodsky-Godt says. “When this position opened up, I saw it as the perfect opportunity to do the work I love with the community I want to serve.”

“She is going to be an amazing asset to this school,” comments Rebecca Ryan, director of admissions. “She has a lot of experience as a student worker in admissions, but also as a student in the program, so she’s going to provide a rich and robust set of skills to talk with our prospective students.”

Novogrodsky-Godt is excited to rejoin The Theatre School community in this new role and can’t wait to connect with students, faculty, and staff on campus to help shape the community. 

“I’m so happy to be in a role that is part of that community-building process,” Novogrodsky-Godt says. “I’m also excited to be here because I love The Theatre School: I love the talent, the people. I’m just so happy to be here in this role.”

Currently, Novogrodsky-Godt is continuing her education at DePaul, pursuing a master’s degree in Women and Gender Studies. She also serves as a graduate assistant in Student Affairs, where she assists new students and supports family engagement initiatives.

Stop by Chava’s office on the 5th floor of The Theatre School to say hello!



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The Undiscovered Country | Damon Kiely for American Theatre


$1 Million Gift Spotlights Lighting Design Students at The Theatre School - Newsline


Little Women at The Theatre School - The DePaulia


TimeLine Theatre's Reading of In the Grove of Forgetting | Directed by Damon Kiely


Chicago Live: Desmin Borges

Join the following entertainment industry creatives in discussion at The Theatre School:

Desmin Borges (Actor - Hangdog)
Matt Cascella (Director, Writer - Hangdog)
Jen Cordery (Writer - Hangdog)
Jack C. Newell (Director – The Candidate, Monuments)
Erik Juarez (Actor, Director)​

Desmin Borges (BFA, Acting, ’05) can currently be seen in the film Hangdog and the season four of Only Murders in the Building. He also recently appeared in the films Appendage and Shotgun Wedding starring Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel. He starred for five seasons of the FX series You’re the Worst as Edgar Quintero, a role that brought him critical acclaim for bringing to life the complicated layers of an Iraq war veteran struggling with PTSD. Most recently, Desmin appeared in the HBO series The Time Traveler’s Wife, the FOX series Welcome to Flatch (with fellow TTS alum Sam Straley), and the Amazon Prime series Utopia. Desmin has also appeared on Netflix’s Living with Yourself with Paul Rudd, Madam Secretary on CBS, AMC’s Preacher, Divorce on HBO, and The Good Wife on CBS, and can be seen next year in the feature thriller Valient One.
He received a 2010 Joseph Jefferson Award and a 2011 Drama League nomination for Lead Actor as Mace in The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Diety, a role he originated in Chicago and went on to play in productions in New York and Los Angeles.















TTS Faculty & Alumni Receive Five Equity Jeff Awards

Please join The Theatre School in congratiulating the following community members on recieving 2023-2024 Equity Jeff Awards!

E. FAYE BUTLER (Goodman School of Drama)
Performer in a Supporting Role, Play
The Nacirema Society | Goodman Theatre

E. FAYE BUTLER (Goodman School of Drama)
Director, Revue
Ain’t Misbehavin’ | Drury Lane Productions 

LOUIS CONTEY (MFA Directing ‘89)
Director, Play, Midsize
A View from the Bridge | Shattered Globe Theatre

JEFFREY LEVIN (Faculty)
Original Music in a Play
Turret | A Red Orchid Theatre

MIKE TUTAJ (Interim Head of Projection Design)
Projection Design
Gods and Monsters | Frame of Reference Productions

View the fiull list of 2023-2024 Equity Jeff Award recipients here.



Michelle Lopez-Rios on Why an Acting Degree Still Matters - Backstage Magazine


Events: Challenging The Narratives of Racisms Performance Symposium

The Challenging the Narratives of Racisms Performance Symposium is a series of events exploring key narratives within the United States that challenge and hold up a mirror to the rise of racism, supremacist nationalism, and reflect on how we heal from hatred. Through performance, discussion, and storytelling, these events will aid audiences in understanding the context that has brought the United States to this point and ideate ho​​​w we fill the need for repair. All events are free and will take place in The Theatre School at DePaul University’s Healy Theatre.


SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

Monday, October 28, 2024, at 7:00 PM

#Charlottesville

By Priyanka Shetty

​#CHARLOTTESVILLE, a devised piec​e by Priyanka Shetty, is a performance that weaves oral histories to dramatize the Charlottesville community’s response to the Aug. 11, 2017, Unite the Right rally, which led to the death of Heather Heyer when a man rammed his car the next day into a crowd of counter-protesters. The performance is based on more than 100 interviews with residents of the Charlottesville area. Comments Shetty, “I’m just the medium. The ide​​as and opinions belong to the people who lived through the events when racial violence erupted in the city.”

RSVP to #Charlottesville here​​.​​​​​​



Tuesday, October 29, 2024, at 6:30 PM

The Rise of Nationalism, White Supremacism, and Antisemitism in the U.S.

With Professor Pamela S. Nadell

The plays Otto Frank and #Charlottesville take their audiences from twentieth-century Nazi Germany to the twenty-first century U.S.  To deepen our understanding of both plays, Professor Pamela S. Nadell explores the deep roots of the racist ideology that led to the explosion of antisemitism at the heart of both stories.  Join Professor Nadell in a discussion centering on the rise of nationalism, white supremacy, and antisemitism in the United States - moderated by The Theatre School’s David Chack​, a professor of Jewish and Holocaust theatre and Identity Theatre at The Theatre School at DePaul University.

Wednesday, October 30, 2024, at 7:00 PM

Otto Frank

By Roger Guenveur Smith

​Obie award-winning actor and writer of Do The Right Thing, Roger was invited to perform in Amsterdam and it was there that he visited the Anne Frank House. “[M]y Otto Frank, the custodian of his daughter's legacy, speaks to her from far beyond her time and his own, interrogating the crisis of our present moment from a not-so-distant past…”

RSVP to Otto Frank here. ​


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EVENT DETAILS:​

Dates: Monday, October 28 – Wednesday, October 30th

Fees: N/A

Location: The Theatre School at DePaul University, Healy Theatre, 2350 N. Racine Ave. Chicago, IL 60614


About the Presenters


Priyanka Shetty is an award-winning actor, playwright, and director based in Philadelphia. Priyanka is focused on making art that is a reflection of our times. With humor, insight, and raw energy, her plays pose critical questions about contemporary issues, engender dialogue, and are a call for solidarity and collective action. Priyanka recently made her Off-Broadway debut with her second solo play #Charlottesville at the Drama Desk award-winning 59E59 Theaters in NYC. She is currently working on The Wall, the final play in her Triptych of Solos. She was handpicked for the Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive 2021 and was a semi-finalist for the 2022 Eugene O’Neill National Playwriting Conference. Priyanka earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting from the University of Virginia and has served on the faculty of the University of Virginia’s Department of Drama.


Pamela S. Nadell holds the Patrick Clendenen Chair in Women's and Gender History and is Director of the Jewish Studies Program at American University. A specialist in American Jewish history and women’s history, her books include America’s Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today (W.W. Norton, 2019), named Jewish Book of the Year by the Jewish Book Council. Reviewed in the New York Times, America’s Jewish Women was praised as “a welcome addition to the American historical canon.” Past president of the Association for Jewish Studies, Nadell’s other titles include Women Who Would Be Rabbis: A History of Women's Ordination, 1889–1985 (Beacon Press, 1998). She consults for museums including the National Museum of American Jewish History and the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream. She lectures widely, frequently appears on podcasts, and has written for, among others, the Washington Post, The Conversation, and Hadassah Magazine. In 2017 and 2023, she testified before Congress about antisemitism on college campuses. She is currently writing a history, which received a National Endowment for the Humanities Scholars grant, on antisemitism in America titled Antisemitism, an American Tradition.  


Roger Guenveur Smith is known for starring in an unprecedented 13 films with Academy Award-winning director Spike Lee, more than any other actor in the American cinema.  Smith starred in the self-written and produced A Huey P. Newton Story, a one-man theatre performance based on the life of Black Panther Party founder Huey P. Newton. Smith received an Obie Award, and a performance was later filmed by Spike Lee. Smith has also performed important historical figures in American GangsterFrederick Douglass NowMarshallBetter Mus' Come, and Behind the Movement. He also stars as the supporting lead role in Rick Famuyiwa's comedy Dope. Most recently, Smith appeared in Till, a biographical drama based on the true story of Mamie Till. In addition to his performances in major studio productions, Smith continues to work in and support independent film projects.



Faculty Member Diane Claussen Shares Insight on Theatre's Survival in a Post-pandemic, Streaming Entertainment Era. - WBEZ