Citadel Theatre 2019-2020 Annie

Biographies 13 Isabel Ackerman (Kate) is so excited to make her Citadel Theater debut! She was last seen as Jemima in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Dream Big). She is mostly a commercial and voice over actor and is thrilled to nally be on stage! She is in fourth grade at Coonley Elementary in Chicago and enjoys piano, voice, aerial silks and creative writing. She sends her love and thanks to her parents, sister Sophie, Grandma, Bachan and Papa for their support. Anne Arza (Mrs. Pugh, Ensemble) is honored to be working for the rst time with such a wonderful group of actors and staff at Citadel. Past favorite roles in various Chicago area productions include Guys and Dolls (Sarah), Mary Poppins (Miss Andrews), 9to5 (Violet), Tarzan (Kala) Oliver (Nancy), White Christmas (Betty), King and I (Lady Thiang), Annie (Grace). When not on stage she is a chemical engineer specializing in water treatment. Lila Bahng (Molly) is a third grader from Vernon Hills, and is excited to make her debut with Citadel. Last year she played a lead role in the lm The Room in the Elephant , which screened at an Oscar- qualifying festival. Lila is a competitive gymnast, and also enjoys making YouTube videos. She would like to thank her friends and family, her agents at Gray Talent, and Colleen Fee, Stacey Flaster, and Elizabeth Fauntleroy for their support. John Benischek (Lt. Ward, Jimmy Johnson, Secretary of State, Justice Brandeis, Ensemble) John appeared on the “Don McNeill’s Breakfast Club” at age 6. Since then, John has performed as a singer/songwriter at hundreds of Nightclubs, Coffeehouses, Colleges, Festivals, Radio, & TV shows, and played such roles as Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof”, Captain Hook in “Peter Pan”, and Fagin in “Oliver!”. He is currently writing a musical that he hopes to have produced sometime in 2020. John B Boss (Oliver Warbucks) comes to us from Timber Lake Playhouse where he played Joseph Pulitzer in “Disney’s Newsies”. Other credits include a recent U.K. tour of “Jane Austen’s Persuasion, a musical drama“ playing Sir Walter with Chamber Opera Tours, Roger Debris in the National Tour of “Mel Brooks’ The Producers”, Daddy Murphy in the Chicago area premiere of “Bright Star” at Bo Ho Theatre, Oliver Warbucks in “Annie” with Breckenridge Backstage Theatre in CO. and Variety Club Children’s Theatre of St. Louis. He has played Sylvia St. Croix in “Ruthless”, Don Quixote in “Man of LaMancha”, Albin and Georges in numerous productions of “La Cage Aux Folles”, Wild Bill in “Annie Get Your Gun”, Mary Sunshine in “Chicago”, Herbie in ‘Gypsy”, Thenardier in “Les Miserables”, Man in Chair in “Drowsey Chaperone” and Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol to name a few. He can be seen in numerous independent lms and on network television in various commercials and series. He is thrilled to be sharing the stage with Sophie Kaegi who played his granddaughter in Ruthless. Bill Chamberlain (Roosevelt) Bill is thrilled to be returning to Citadel Theater where he appeared in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Senex) and Cabaret (Herr Schultz). Recent credits include Daniel Webster in The Devil and Daniel Webster (City Lit), E. F. Albee in Minnie’s Boys (Porchlight), Major General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance (Savoyaires); and Sorin in The Seagull (Edge of the Wood Theatre). Emiko Chichester (Pepper) is thrilled to be working on her third holiday play with Citadel Theatre. She made her professional debut in Citadel’s “Scrooge and the Ghostly Spirits”, followed last year by the theatre’s Jeff nominated “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”. She would like to thank her Mom and Dad, and especially Scott Phelps and his Children’s Education Program for helping her grow as an actor and fueling her passion!