BIO

DIRECTOR

CECILIE D. KEENAN (Director) is a freelance director and producer who has been active in the Chicago Theater Community for over 20 years. Cecilie directed Another Part of the House for Teatro Vista, The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow for Collaboraction and Living Out for Teatro Vista/ ATC . She has been a frequent director at ATC where she was a company member some years ago and directed Toys in the Attic and Bus Stop. Cecilie also directs in Minneapolis for Theater Mu where she directed 99 Histories and Falling Flowers. Other recent work includes adapting the novel The Messenger by Mayra Montero for Teatro Vista presented at the International Latino Festival at the Goodman Theater. Cecilie has worked on staff with many theaters in Chicago including Producing Director at Chicago's Apple Tree Theater where she directed Anna Christie, The Birthday Party and Private Eyes and as Assistant Artistic Director for Northlight Theater. At Bailiwick she served as Artistic Director and she started the Director's Festival, 11 Minutes Max, and with David Zak, the Deaf Artists Program. Her directing work at Bailiwick includes: Our Town (a deaf/hearing/movement version), Nagasaki Dust, Shanghai Gesture, Dark of the Moon and Prometheus Bound/UnBound. In the past Cecilie has received many awards for directing and ensemble work as well as a TCG Observership to Mexico and several NEA & Foundation Grants to develop or produce new plays. Cecilie is a frequent teacher at area acting centers including Victory Gardens, Actor's Center, and Center Theater and others and even happily portrayed Sister in Late Nite Catechism in 1997.

PLAYWRIGHT/PRODUCER

VICKI QUADE has written and produced a lot of theater in Chicago, including comedies, bluegrass musicals, improv, and magic. She is best known for co-creating the one-woman show, Late Nite Catechism, which opened in 1993 in Chicago and holds the record for the longest running religious comedy in the city's history. She has created a series of nun comedies, featuring her character Mother Superior. Those comedies include Put the Nuns in Charge!, Sunday School Cinema (where Mother Superior reviews movies), Saints & Sinners, and the holiday show called Mother Superior's Ho-Ho-Holy Night. In 2011, she also created a new line of bingo shows, including Bible Bingo: An Act of Charity in Two Acts. She worked with WGN radio guys Jerry Agar, Tim Slagle, Dobie Maxwell, and Ken Sevara to create a talk radio parody called You're On the Air. Some of her other plays include Room for Advancement, Mr. Nanny, and Here Come the Famous Brothers. She also has produced the mentalist Christopher Carter (2002-05), the musical Forever Plaid (2003), the improv comedy Cast on a Hot Tin Roof (2004), and the political spoken word piece Verbatim Verboten (Chicago and off-off-Broadway). As a performer, she appeared in Portraits: Stories of Hope and Survival as part of the Chicago Foundation for Women's anti-violence campaign:What Will It Take? She also appeared in the All the Women You Want comedy festival at Los Manos Gallery, in Chicago, delivered political rants in Verbatim Verboten at the Royal George, and appeared in a benefit performance of Vagina Monologues at the Apollo Theater. In habit as a nun she did a guest appearance in Scarrie, the Musical, at the Theatre Building in Chicago, and also chased WGN's Dean Richards on stage as part of the Dance for Life fundraiser at the Harris Theatre in Chicago's Millenium Park. She appears frequently in the TV-ReRun series with A Reasonable Fascimile Theater Company (ARFTCO). Vicki grew up in the southwest suburbs of Chicago and started her career in journalism, working for daily newspapers, national magazines, and writing for just about every publication in Chicago. She also spent 10 years as a correspondent for Newsweek. In 1999, she contributed to the Chicago Sun-Times millennium book, 20th Century Chicago: 100 Years, 100 Voices. She also wrote the biography, I Remember Bob Collins, about the WGN-Radio legend who was killed in a plane crash in February 2000. Vicki has three children, Michael, David, and Catherine, who keep her sane.

LISA BUSCANI performs as both Sister in Late Nite Catechism and as Mother Superior. She got her start in Chicago's poetry slam scene and went on to become a National Poetry Slam Champion. She is a Neo-Futurist and writes and performs in "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind." She has toured with the national production of Late Nite Catechism and worked with Vicki Quade to create the new comedy, Saints & Sinners. She co-produced and curated the Big Goddess Pow Wow series at the Metro and authored one book of poetry, "Jangle," (Tia Chucha Press), as well as three acclaimed solo shows, Carnivale Animale, Solid Citizen, and At That Time. She has appeared on NPR, CNN, PBS, HBO, Much Music, and Voice of America, as well as in numerous spoken word anthologies and CDs, such as Alive from the NuYorican Poets Caf? (Holt) and Word Up (Keyporter Books/EMI).

ELAINE CARLSON has appeared in three Mother Superior comedies. She's been acting in Chicago theatre for over twenty five years, and worked recently with Vicki Quade and Lisa Buscani to create the show, Saints & Sinners. Some of her roles include Mrs. Pearce in Apple Tree Theatre's Pygmalion, Evelyn in Eclipse Theatre's The Rimers of Eldrich, and Helen in the Stage Left Leapfest production of Dan Noonan's Out Among the Dragons. She's also appeared in American Blues Theatre's Monsters II: Visiting Hours, Claudia Allen's Hannah Free at Bailiwick Rep (also made into a movie), BNC's Don Juan Comes Back from the War and Famous Door's Two Planks and a Passion. Elaine has been honored with three Joseph Jefferson Citations: as both an actress in a leading role and also as an ensemble member in Famous Door's Salt of the Earth, and again as an ensemble member in Pegasus Players' Noises Off. Elaine was a long-time member of the Absolute Theatre Company. She appeared in many Chicago productions under the ATC banner including: The Crucifer of Blood, The Devils, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Reckless, Merry Wives of Windsor, Come Back to the 5 and Dime and others. You may have heard her voice on corporate voice-mail services, reading The Poky Little Puppy for Golden Books or narrating industrial films about aromatherapy, waste management or nail fungus. You might have also heard her doing movie reviews on the Jerry Agar show on WLS, 890-AM.

LISA BRAATZ performs as Sister in Late Nite Catechism and Mother Superior in Put the Nuns in Charge! and in Mother Superior's Ho-Ho-Holy Night. She is a theatre graduate from St. Louis University. She has been performing in the Chicagoland area for over 10 years. Recently Lisa portrayed the Reverend Mother in the Chicago Comedy Company production of Nunsense and Aunt Alma in the world premiere musical Retail. She works performing in private parties with Get Away With Murder and Murder Mystery Players where she gets shot, poisoned and stabbed on a regular basis. Lisa attended Catholic schools and remembers Sister Paul Mary as the toughest nun she has ever run across, but of course she was always the good girl and never got whacked

LIZ CLOUD has been with Late Nite Catechism for years. She has also appeared in the comedy parody The Spew at the Comedy Shrine in Naperville. She received an After Dark Award and a Joseph Jefferson citation nomination for her performance of Charlotte Bronte in the one-woman show Bronte at The Free Associates. She is a founding member of The Free Associates where she performed in sixteen shows including Cast on a Hot Tin Roof (Chicago and New Orleans productions) and BS. She has also performed in Flanagan's Wake and Mirandolina, both at The Noble Fool Theater. Her face and hands have been featured in commercials for McDonalds, Budweiser, Parkay Margarine and many others. Liz has appeared in the independent films The Opera Lover and How U Like Me Now.

MARGARET KUSTERMANN brings her extensive Catholic education to the roles of Sister and soon as Mother Superior. She attended Catholic schools from grade school through college. Margaret has worked at Lyric Opera, Victory Gardens, Artistic Home, About Face, Live Bait, and Center Theater. She has appeared at Northern Stage in Vermont as Mag in Beauty Queen of Leenane and Madame Arcate in Blithe Spirit. She played Tina's mother in Tony n'Tina's Wedding. Margaret was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Citation for Lola in Come Back Little Sheba. She has worked in commercials, films and television. Other works include No Place Like Home at Steppenwolf Studio, Merry Jewish Christmas at Bailiwick, Apocalyptic Butterflies in Collaboraction, The Credeux Canvas at the Smash Theatre and Seven Moves at About Face Theatre.

PAT MUSKER is also a founding member of The Noble Fool Theater Company. She has appeared as the goddess Freya, in the world premiere of Vikings! A Musical in Two Axe, and as Gina Oswald in the past four productions of Noble Fool's holiday parody, Roasting Chestnuts. She is a co-creator and original cast member of the long-running Flanagan's Wake. She can sometimes be seen in in the guise of improvisational chanteuse Roxy Bellows, another solo performer who is about as far away from a nun as one can legally get!. In addition to being a professional educator, she is an improv instructor for The Second City Training Center.

KATHLEEN PULS ANDRADE plays Mother Superior in Put the Nuns in Charge! and in Mother Superior's Ho-Ho-Holy Night. She is also the creator of the one-woman comedy, Journey to the Center of the Uterus. Kathleen has been a professional actor/ voiceover/ improviser in Chicago for the past fifteen years. She has a degree in Theatre from Northern Illinois University and a "Masters" in comedy from The Second City Conservatory, ImprovOlympic and The Annoyance improvisation programs. She is a member of SAG, AFTRA, and has several on-camera credits, plus numerous voiceovers for radio and television. She has performed with Apple Tree Theatre, Strawdog, Lifeline, Chicago and Minneapolis Improv Festivals, Chicago Comedy Company, Playground Improv Theatre, Hiatus in New York City, and with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She also created and produced the National Funny Women Fest 2000. In addition to teaching at Second City in Chicago, she has taught improv workshops for Baylor University, The University of Illinois, The University of North Florida, In Forte, and many others

MARY ZENTMYER is happy to be traveling all over the USA, performing in the Chicago phenomenon, Late Nite Catechism. Mary first appeared as Sister at the Ivanhoe Theatre in Chicago and made her Off-Broadway debut at the Theatre at St. Luke's in New York City. She then was on the national tour of Late Nite Catechism and has appeared in numerous productions throughout the country. Mary was born and raised (Catholic) on the Northwest Side of Chicago, and was taught by the School Sisters of St. Francis at Alvernia H.S. She also received her B.A. in Speech & Performing Arts from Northeastern IL University. Old habits are hard to break: Mary portrayed Sister Berthe in The Sound of Music and Sister Catherine in Do Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? (while it was in its formative Reader's Theatre stage, still being written by John Powers at Northeastern). She has performed at such Chicago theatres as the Candlelight-Forum Dinner Playhouse, Pheasant Run Dinner Theatre, the Sabre Room, Victory Gardens Theatre, Bailiwick, The Theatre Building and the Chicago Dramatists Workshop. Some of her favorite roles include: Blanche, in A Streetcar Named Desire, Eleanor of Acquitane in A Lion in Winter; the Defenseless Creature in Neil Simon's The Good Doctor, and Daisy Werthan in Driving Miss Daisy.