Children’s Theatre Company Announces ANNIE Cast

Children's Theatre Company (CTC) today announced the cast of its upcoming musical Annie. For the first time in its 45-year history, CTC will produce Annie this spring, under the direction of Peter Rothstein, artistic director for Theater Latté Da. Rothstein previously brought a high-energy production of Disney's High School Musical and a charmingly entertaining production of A Year With Frog and Toad to CTC's stage and will now direct the Tony Award-winning musical, which remains the single most-requested production among CTC patrons.

Leading the cast is a veteran Twin Cities actor, making his CTC debut. Lee Mark Nelson, with credits On and Off-Broadway and countless productions in the Twin Cities, is playing Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks. A graduate of The Juilliard School, Nelson has performed in New York, Washington D.C. and at Yale Repertory Theatre as well as at Guthrie Theater, The Jungle Theater and Ten Thousand Things Theatre, here in the Twin Cities.

Teri Parker-Brown, last seen at CTC in 2006's Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, will play Grace Farrell. Parker-Brown has many regional theater credits to her name, including performances at CTC and most recently at Old Log Theater. Most relevant to "Annie" audiences is her extensive musical theater work, including Chanhassen Dinner Theatres as Belle in Beauty and the Beast and Meg in Brigadoon.

Angela Timberman, another prolific Twin Cities actress, returns to CTC to play Miss Hannigan, the disagreeable orphanage matron. Timberman has also worked for Guthrie Theater, Park Square Theatre, the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres and Ordway Center for the Performing Arts. CTC's Company members Gerald Drake and Dean Holt will play a myriad of comic roles. Autumn Ness will play Lily St. Regis, and Reed Sigmund will play Rooster.

To cast the role of Annie and her orphan friends, CTC held an open casting call at the Mall of America in October. Seven of the ten youth actors, including Annie, were cast following those auditions. CTC is thrilled to invite these talented new young people to the stage.
Playing the role of Annie are Megan Fischer and Shawnee Elliott. Both already have extensive musical theatre backgrounds. Fischer performed at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts as the understudy for the role of Susan Waverly in White Christmas, and Elliott hails from Denver, where she was nominated for a 2010 Denver Post Ovation Award in the "Best Younger Actor" category.

In addition, Panu Yang, who is studying traditional Chinese dance with Dao Lan Dance School, will make her professional theater debut as Molly. Regan Duffy, a fourth-grade student from Linwood, Minn., and a semi-finalist at the Minnesota State Fair Talent Show in 2009, will play Kate. And, Anna Moskowitz, who performed two seasons in The City Children's Nutcracker at the Historic State Theater, will play Duffy, while BranDon Brooks, who previously played the Grand Duke Wilfred in CTC's Dr. Seuss' The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins will make a return appearance.

Based on the 1920-1930s comic "Little Orphan Annie," Annie, the musical, opened on Broadway in 1977. Set in New York City in the midst of the Great Depression, the story about the young orphan who finds a father in the billionaire Oliver Warbucks is as well recognized for its hope and optimism as for its long list of musical titles-such as "Hard Knock Life" and "Tomorrow"-that theatre-loving children nationwide know by heart.

Annie will run from April 12 through June 12, 2011. Tickets range from $32-$46 for adults and $22-$31 for children (17 & under), students and seniors and are available by calling (612) 874-0400 or by visiting www.childrenstheatre.org.

Children's Theatre Company (CTC) is the first theatre for young people to win the coveted Tony® Award for Outstanding Regional Theater (2003). Founded in 1965, CTC serves more than 300,000 people annually and is one of the 20 largest theater companies in the nation. CTC is noted for defining worldwide standards for youth theatre with an innovative mix of classic tales, celebrated international productions and challenging new work.