MessFest History

In fall 2021, Liz Joynt Sandberg (Head of Comedy Arts at DePaul University) proposed and programmed a two-week, ten-day festival at The Theatre School that featured approximately 30 shows that were written, directed, and performed by students. The festival was a huge success and paved the way for it's future expansion to The Annoyance Theatre and Bar.

You can read more here.

In the winter of 2023, the festival got its new home: Annoyance Theatre & Bar! The festival ran for four days and featured over 40 shows students worked on throughout the fall, with the mainstage show directed by Jay Bouthiette. Many shows were picked up by iO, The Annoyance, and other comedy clubs in Chicago.

Leading the festival board were students Kathryn Courtney (CAM '23) as the Executive Director, Robert Vetter (CAM '23) as the Marketing Chair, and Tisby Critchley (Theatre Arts '23) as the Lead Artistic Director. Many other students also helped run this process.

The festival performed again at The Annoyance Theatre and Bar! The festival ran four days and featured over 40 shows, with the mainstage show run by professional comedian Cat McDonell.

Kathy Thompson at the helm as Executive Director with Kenna Bartlett, Ally Montgomery, Luke Herman, Lucas Johnson, Ava Cairl, Dwight Bellismo, Sarah Metz, Joseph Walsdorf, Josie Moore, Joan Starkey, and Audrey Gold on the board.

Additional expansions from the first festival include multiple new short film screenings, a comprehensive festival pass, merchandise, and more!

A few stand-up shows in the festival were combined for the revue "Stand Together" which ran at the Annoyance for 6 weeks and was directed by comic Eunji Kim.

This year MessFest is back! We'll be at the Annoyance again from January 14th to 17th. To buy tickets go here.

We'll see you there!