CONTRIBUTED BY CHILDREN’S THEATRE COMPANY
AUBURN —
Children’s Theatre Company (CTC) is pleased to announce Auburn University student Antonisia “Nisi” Collins and Keegan Robinson as the performance apprentices (PAs) for the 2023-24 season.
CTC’s Performing Apprentice Program is the nation’s leading apprentice program for emerging actors. The program offers a comprehensive opportunity for gifted young actors aged 19 and older. Actors from underrepresented communities — including, but not limited to, people of color — are especially encouraged to audition.
PAs have the unique opportunity to perform on CTC’s stages alongside its resident Acting Company members, equity and non-equity actors, student actors and locally, nationally and internationally renowned guest artists, who have included Itamar Moses, Philip Dawkins, Lisa Portes, Henry Godinez, Timothy Douglas, Eric Ting, Kia Corthron, Nilo Cruz, Naomi Iizuka, Lloyd Suh, Michael Mahler, Alan Schmuckler, Jerome Hairston and Cheryl West.
PAs perform in named roles and as understudies, and they take part in readings and workshops of new works. They participate in workshops on resumes, audition pieces and techniques for monologues and songs. They also gain experience in other departments at the theater to help grow their professional development. Performing apprentices have gone on to have prolific careers in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area, as well as New York and other major theater regions. In some cases, they become CTC Acting Company members.
Collins comes to CTC from Auburn University, where she is completing her Bachelor of Fine Arts in musical theater. She is a singer, dancer and actor who has also worked at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. At Auburn, she was Viola in “Twelfth Night,” Chelle in “Detroit 67,” Little Red in “Into the Woods,” Kristine Linde in “A Doll’s House” and Brooklyn in “Bring it On.”
Robinson is a recent graduate from the University of Minnesota Theatre Program and has appeared on CTC stages in “Corduroy,” “Dr. Seuss’s The Sneetches,” “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: the Musical,” as well as with theater companies across the Twin Cities.
“We are thrilled to welcome Nisi and Keegan, two remarkably talented young actors to Children’s Theatre Company,” CTC said. “These artists bring huge gifts as actor/singers and a tremendous spirit of openness and curiosity. We look forward to having their talents, their dedication and their spirit as part of our upcoming season.”
CTC’s 2023-24 season of seven productions features two world premieres: “Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress” and “Babble Lab.” It also features the international sensation “Cookin’” from South Korea, the only Minnesota stop of the national tour of “The Carp Who Would Not Quit and Other Animal Stories” from Honolulu Theatre for Youth, the return of last year’s sold-out production of “Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!,” the three-time Tony Award-nominated musical “A Year With Frog and Toad” and the wildly inventive “Alice in Wonderland.”
Collins’ and Robinson’s specific roles within the 2023-24 season, as well as complete casting and creative team information, will be announced at a later date.
Full-season subscriptions and renewals for the 2023-24 season are now on sale and can be purchased online at childrenstheatre.org/shows-and-tickets/subscribe-and-save/ or by calling the ticket office at 612-874-0400.
Currently, the World Premiere of “An American Tail the Musical” is playing at CTC’s UnitedHealth Group Stage through June 18, 2023. Tickets may be purchased online at childrenstheatre.org/AmericanTail or by calling the ticket office at 612-874-0400. Ticket prices start at $15.
ABOUT CHILDREN’S THEATRE COMPANY
Children’s Theatre Company (CTC) is the nation’s largest and most acclaimed theater for young people and serves a multigenerational audience. It creates theater experiences that educate, challenge and inspire more than 250,000 people annually. CTC is the only theater focused on young audiences to win the coveted Tony Award for regional theater and is the only theater in Minnesota to receive three Tony nominations (for its production of “A Year with Frog and Toad”). CTC is committed to creating world-class productions at the highest level and to developing new works, more than 200 to date, dramatically changing the canon of work for young audiences.
CTC’s engagement and learning programs annually serve more than 93,000 young people and their communities through Theatre Arts Training, student matinees, Neighborhood Bridges and early childhood arts education programs. ACT One is CTC’s comprehensive platform for access, diversity and inclusion in its audiences, programs, staff and board that strives to ensure the theater is a home for all people, all families, reflective of its community. For more information, visit childrenstheatre.org.
