Our camp is led by experienced theater artists who are actively performing in top-tier Chicago-area productions.
Johanna McKenzie Miller, Artistic Director and Co-Founder
Johanna McKenzie Miller is super excited for this season of Lombard Children’s Theater Workshop (LCTW). As a professional theater artist she most recently made a career addition of directing with Shrew’d!, First Folio Theatre’s world premier musical adaptation of Taming of the Shrew. This holiday season she can be seen singing and dancing as Linda in Holiday Inn at The Marriott Theatre. Other theater credits include work at Court Theatre, Drury Lane Oakbrook, Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Northlight Theatre and The Marriott Theatre.
2018 Teaching Artists
Elizabeth Telford
Elizabeth Telford is thrilled to return to Lombard Children’s Theatre Workshop! An actress based in Chicago, she has worked with Chicagoland area theatres such as the Marriott Theatre, Music Theater Works, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Theatre at the Center, Provision Theater, Porchlight Music Theatre, BoHo Theatre, The Music Theatre Company, and Northbrook Theatre. Regionally, she has performed with the Old Globe Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Skylight Music Theatre, First Stage Theatre, and the Utah Shakespeare Festival.
Tony Carter
Tony Carter joins Lombard Children’s Theater Workshop for the first time! With a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre from Southern Utah University, Tony has worked across the Chicagoland area with such theatres as Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Theatre at the Center, Music Theatre Works, And Drury Lane Theatre. He is currently playing Lucentio in First Folio Theatre’s world premiere musical Shrew’d. Regional credits include Utah Shakespeare Festival, California Theatre Center, Oregon Cabaret Theatre, and the Utah Festival Opera.
Interns
Isabella Andrews
Isabella Andrews is an incoming senior BFA student at Wright State University, where she has appeared in such shows as “Next to Normal” (Diana), “Angels in America” (Harper), “Fiddler on the Roof” (Yente), and will be appearing in “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” in the fall. Chicago theatre credits include “Heathers the Musical” at The Drama Group (Heather Chandler) and the world premiere musical “Shrew’d” at First Folio Shakespeare Theatre. She is trained in Viewpoints, Suzuki, Meisner, and Alexander techniques and is certified in Stage Combat.
Miranda Heabel
Miranda is a resident of Lombard and is excited to be sharing her love of music and theatre with others. She attends Glenbard East High School, where she is involved in the choir, and is a member of St John’s Lutheran Church, where she sings with the Praise Team. Miranda has performed in 12 Christian Youth Theater (CYT)/Spotlight musical productions. She has taken private voice lessons for over 6 years, as well as various dance and musical theater classes through CYT, Stacey De & Company, and DeForest Dance. This summer, Miranda has served as an intern for CYT summer camps throughout DuPage County and enjoys working with children of all ages doing what she loves — singing, dancing, and acting. She is thankful for this opportunity to work with Lombard Children’s Theater Workshop!
Past Teaching Artists
Alex Goodrich
Alex is excited to work with the Lombard Children’s Theater Workshop. He is a former company member of Barrel of Monkeys (a Chicago-based theater and creative writing education organization) and is a professional actor in Chicago. Some credits include: Shining Lives: A Musical (Northlight); Hero: The Musical (**Jeff Award for Best Supporting Actor -Musical) On The Town, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, For The Boys, How Can You Run… (Marriott Theater); Old Jews Telling Jokes (Royal George); Everything Is Illuminated (Next Theater); Midsummer Night’s Dream (Indiana Repertory Theater) ; The Emperor’s New Clothes, Taming of the Shrew, Aladdin, (Chicago Shakespeare); Goodnight Moon, Harold and the Purple Crayon(Chicago Children’s Theater); The Comedy of Errors (Court Theater); The Front Page (Timeline Theater); and several productions with Provision Theater. He loves his wife, their son and their new baby due in August!
Becky Keeshin
Originally from Highland Park, Illinois, Becky graduated in June from The Theatre School at DePaul University with her BFA in Acting! School credits include Medea, The Lady from the Sea, Prospero’s Storm, Peter Pan and Wendy, Much Ado about Nothing and Mrs. Phu’s Cleansing Juices (And Also Salads). Chicago credits include work with Writers Theatre, First Folio Theatre, and The Music Theatre Company. Becky spent the first half of her summer at Canterbury Summer Theatre in Michigan City, playing Ronda in Have a Nice Day! And Kat in Tomorrow Morning. She is a teaching artist at Emerald City Theatre Company, a Staff Writer at Performer Stuff, and plays a mean ukulele.
Tammy Madar
Tammy is a veteran of Chicagoland Musical Theatre and has won multiple Jeff Awards for her choreography. She teaches master classes and workshops around the country and has taught adjunct classes at Columbia College and is currently teaching at Roosevelt University. She is on faculty at Lou Conte Dance Studio, and is a partner at The American Rhythm Center. Tammy is the creator of Active Dance, a new technique for musical theatre dancers, offered exclusively at The School at Porchlight.
Kristina Martin
Kristina studied acting and voice at Wright State University. She has been seen in Chicago productions at Steppenwolf, About Face, Victory Gardens, Lookingglass, Griffin, Lifeline, Irish Repertory, Collaboraction, and Pegasus Players theaters and most recently understudied two roles in Northlight Theatre Company’s production of Shining Lives: A Musical. She has played both drums and electric bass in rock bands and currently sings with her husband in a country/folk duo called The Finches. Favorite pastime is sharing musical theater with her two daughters, ages 5 and 9, who both love singing and acting.
Cassie Slater
Cassie started assistant teaching at the age of 16 under the guidance of her mother, Diana Guhin Wooley (a truly inspiring teacher & mentor). Those early teaching experiences showed her the tremendous power that music, theatre, and art can have on the development of young minds. Following her mother’s lead, she soon realized that with an invested teacher who cares and believes in each student that power grows exponentially!! She likes to think that some of her mother’s magical teaching moments are with her today.
In Chicago she’s taught for Second City and Apple Tree Theatre (Eileen Boevers Performing Arts). In New York: Stage Coach, Broadway Bound Kids, & Music For Manhattan/Music For Brooklyn. After receiving her BFA from The Theatre School at DePaul University, she began her acting career in Chicago where she was a recipient of a Joseph Jefferson Award (Merrily We Roll Along). Regionally she has worked with Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Timeline Theater Company, Barrington Stage Company, The Marriott Theatre, and Peninsula Players Theatre among many others. She has worked extensively in the development of new musicals (BMI and William Finn’s Musical Theatre Lab at Barrington Stage Company) and originated the roles of Lauren and Judy in BSC’s See Rock City and Other Destinations (again at NAMT). She has been a featured vocalist at Birdland, Joe’s Pub, Merkin Concert Hall, Lincoln Center, Don’t Tell Mama, and Ars Nova. In 2009, she won the New York Music Theater Festival’s Next Broadway Sensation Competition, which led to her solo show Chimera at Joe’s Pub. TV: Chicago PD. In 2013, she founded Stomp and Shout Chicago; a music and creative play program for young kids and their grownups.
Brandon Springman
Brandon is thrilled to be back at LCTW! Chicago credits include: Singin’ in the Rain, Man of La Mancha, Suessical, For the Boys, Pirates of Penzance, and Joseph…. (Marriott Theatre) Saturday Night Fever, Peter and the Starcatcher, Billy Elliot, Singin’ in the Rain, and The Sound of Music (Drury Lane Theatre); The Little Mermaid (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre). Regional credits include: Brigadoon (Sacramento Music Circus). Brandon has a B.F.A. from Roosevelt University. Many thanks Johanna and Kristin for having him along for the summer!
Past Interns
Renata Leighton
Renata is a resident of Lombard and is thrilled to be exploring theatre with the children of her town. She first discovered her passion for the dramatic arts at age 7, when she performed at Aurora’s Paramount Theatre in Seussical the Musical. After participating in multiple shows with the Paramount, she started performing at her high school, Glenbard East. In their theatre program, she starred in a variety of productions including the musicals Cats and Spamalot, straight plays Elephant’s Graveyard, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and Moliere’s The Miser, as well as group interpretations of Alice in Wonderland and In the Time of the Butterflies. She was named an Illinois All Sectional Actor and performed a lead role in an Illinois High School Theatre Festival dance production. In addition to her work onstage, Renata has worked as both director and stage manager. She recently graduated from Glenbard East and will attend Brandeis University this coming fall where she plans to major in Environmental Science with a minor in Theatre.
Johnny Rabe
Johnny Rabe made his professional theatre debut at the Marriott Theatre as Winthrop in The Music Man. He also played Ralphie in the Broadway production of A Christmas Story, the Musical. Other credits include: For the Boys (Danny) and Mary Poppins (Michael) at Marriott Theatre; the national tour of A Christmas Story, the Musical (Insistent Boy); Second Hand Lions (Walter) at 5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle; The Music Man (Winthrop) at Paramount Theatre; and Shadowlands (Douglas) and Jacob (Joshua) at Provision Theatre. This past spring, Johnny enjoyed returning to the Marriott Theatre to play Arpad in She Loves Me. Johnny is a senior at The Chicago Academy for the Arts and plans to major in theatre in college.