COLLEEN BRUTON graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as the first graduate of the Lyric Theatre program. Lyric theatre is a program that trains artists in both musical theatre and opera, allowing students to have a comprehensive understanding of music making and storytelling and how the two meet. Her favorite roles she's played are: Ilona Ritter (She Loves Me), Polly Baker (Crazy for You), Dorothy Gale (The Wizard of Oz), Clara Johnson (The Light in the Piazza). Colleen was also recently seen on SHOWTIME's TV show, Work in Progress. Most recently, Colleen starred as the Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods with Big Noise Theatre. Colleen is so thankful to be performing with City of Lights Theatre & Cabaret once more! She is currently represented by Big Mouth Talent.

Producer GRACE CURRIE directed choirs at West Aurora High School for three years (2019-2022) and LaSalle-Peru High School for one year (2018-2019). At West Aurora High School, Grace directed three curricular choirs and two a cappella groups, and she received the Influential Educator Award in 2020. At LaSalle-Peru, Grace directed four curricular choirs. Her students organized a themed benefit concert, incorporating student art, that raised over $3,000 for the local homeless shelter. In 2018, Grace earned a Bachelor of Music degree in choral music education with highest honors from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Some of Grace's favorite roles in community and educational theatre include Mary Poppins (Mary Poppins), Dorothy Gale (The Wizard of Oz), Sandy (Grease), and Hodel (Fiddler on the Roof). Grace has co-produced three cabarets with City of Lights Theatre & Cabaret.

MARY CURRIE is thrilled to perform in her fourth cabaret show with City of Lights Theatre & Cabaret. Mary currently works in school district 145 as the vocal music teacher at Arbor Park Middle School. She teaches music to students grades 5-8 and directs the Panther Choir. She is a 2021 graduate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and received her Bachelor of Music Education degree with a choral music concentration. Mary's love for music sparked from her involvement with musical theatre in her youth and adolescent years. Mary has participated in shows produced by the Fox Valley Park Districts' Summer Stage as well as Bolingbrook's Theater-on-the-Hill. Mary is honored to be able to perform the Friends and Rivals theme for a second time in the beautiful city of Chicago. Enjoy the performance!

Staging Director MICHAEL CURRIE is happy to be returning to City of Lights Theatre & Cabaret after working on the last two cabarets, and is glad to have the opportunity to be here supporting friends, family, and local performers. Michael directed the staging and designed the lighting for Honeymoon Cabaret earlier this year. His previous work includes directing a production of Theresa Rebeck’s The Scene while at Augustana College, as well as multiple plays in the Quad Cities Playwrights Festival and one-acts at West Aurora High School. He hopes you enjoy this production and the many future shows to come.

ROWAN CURRIE is excited to be returning for another cabaret with City of Lights Theatre & Cabaret! Rowan graduated from Augustana College with a Bachelor of Education degree in history with a minor in Theatre Arts. She studied voice during her time at Augustana and has always been drawn to the stage. Her favorite past roles include Sarah Brown (Guys and Dolls) and Rosalind (As You Like It). She lives in Aurora with her husband, Michael, and their three-year-old daughter, Juliet.

JOHN D’AVERSA graduated from Augustana College with a degree in Theatre Arts and Asian Studies. Afterwards, he moved to Portland, Oregon for a two-year acting conservatory. Over that time, he discovered a love for building and now is a daytime carpenter/welder, fabricating children's museum exhibits in Chicago. John returned to the stage in 2021, performing twice with Theatre-on-the-Hill as Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls and as Frederick Frankenstein in their most recent production of Young Frankenstein. Now he returns for another show with City of Lights Theatre & Cabaret! He sends thanks to his dear friends Rowan and Michael Currie for getting him in contact with so many lovely theatre people in the area. And he wishes you a love-filled evening at Moonlight Cabaret.

CALEB HAND is a 26-year-old vocalist from Bolingbrook, Illinois. He has spent the last 17 years performing at Theatre-On-The-Hill in Bolingbrook where he has played roles such as Emmett (Legally Blonde), Edna Turnblad (Hairspray), Tony (West Side Story), Perchik (Fiddler on the Roof), and Nicely Nicely Johnson (Guys and Dolls). Caleb spent two years studying vocal performance at DePaul University in Chicago and transferred to Wichita State University for a year to continue his training with renowned Tenor Michael Sylvester. Currently Caleb is a manager at GameStop. He is also a streamer and YouTube video game content creator. He enjoys learning new repertoire and relaxing during a night in playing games with friends. Above all, he loves to perform, sending an audience into a new setting for a few hours where their problems seem small and their laughs are plentiful. He is excited to perform for you all at Moonlight Cabaret.

Music Director LIZ HUTCHINSON is a choral music educator and vocalist with over a decade of experience teaching and performing in the Chicago area. She received her Bachelors of Music Education from the University of Illinois and a Masters of Music Education with distinction from DePaul University. Liz taught music at West Aurora High School, Wilmette District 39, and currently is Director of Choirs at Glenbard South High School in Glen Ellyn. Liz has performed with the St. Charles Singers, TVK Orchestra, and An Octave Above. Past awards include the Branigan Scholarship and the Outstanding Graduating Senior Award at the University of Illinois, the Graduate Music Education Scholarship at DePaul University, and the Influential Educator Award at West Aurora High School. She lives in Glen Ellyn with her husband Andrew, daughter Mila, and two pitbulls Chuck and Lily. Liz is thrilled and honored to be performing with City of Lights Theatre & Cabaret!

DAN KELLER is a recent college graduate, happy to be performing with a ton of his friends! Selected credits include Spongebob in Spongebob Squarepants: The Broadway Musical, Tobias in Sweeney Todd, Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors, and Young Will/Ensemble in Big Fish. Many thanks to all who made this cabaret happen!

Collaborative Pianist MATTHEW LORENZ is a growing artistic presence in the American midwest and the international stage at large. Matthew’s performance experience as a pianist extends from Bismarck, North Dakota to Santa Rosa, New Mexico, Paris, and beyond. Since the first days of his university piano education, Matthew has eagerly engaged in performances of all kinds, and is actively sought out throughout the midwest. Since 2018, he has maintained several international chamber music residencies in Japan, China, and France. Currently active in Chicago, he is enrolled in a Performance Diploma at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University where he studies with Edward Auer, Junghwa Auer, and Adam Neiman. Matthew is on the Piano Faculty at the New Music School, Chicago’s premier music academy, located in the Gold Coast. Though he is a recent devotee to cabaret (thanks to Brady Collins, a frequent collaborator) he became obsessed with Liza Manelli’s 1972 classic Cabaret, and now he chases the cabaret’s electric atmosphere.

AUSTIN MCWILLIAMS, conductor and countertenor, strives to present compelling, intriguing music that is directly relevant to the communities in which it is performed. He is the Associate Conductor and Director of Music Education at Opera Grand Rapids, where he acts as both chorus master and head of the contemporary opera series dedicated to marginalized communities. In 2022 he conducted the world premiere of Frances Pollock’s Stinney about George Stinney, a 14-year-old black boy who was wrongfully convicted and executed in 1944. Austin is also an Adjunct Professor of Choral Studies at Western Michigan University, where he conducts the university operas and choral ensembles and teaches several courses. He is the choir director at Fountain Street Church, a non-denominational, non-creedal institution that serves as a venue for radical speakers and ideologies, and is Co-Artistic Director of the Ad Astra Music Festival, a classical music festival in Russell, Kansas, known for its innovative and unique programming. In 2021 at Ad Astra he conducted the world premiere of Anna Pidgorna’s new opera Our Trudy about the life of a local art teacher. He is a faculty member at Missouri Scholars Academy, an annual, month-long governor’s school for gifted high school juniors in his native state. In 2019, Austin earned a Master of Music degree in choral conducting at WMU under Kimberly Dunn Adams. There he designed a recital on HIV/AIDS awareness in collaboration with several community organizations, and he earned the School of Music Graduate Award for Excellence in Teaching. Austin graduated in 2017 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor of Science degree in computer engineering.

ANDREW TONIOLO is Director of Choirs and teaches music production at Metea Valley High School. He also vocal directs the musicals, directs the Metea Valley’s vocal jazz ensemble: Off The Record, as well as the contemporary a cappella ensembles: Apollo and Muses. Prior to Metea Valley, Andrew worked at Glenbrook South High School where he taught choir, music theory, directed the a cappella and vocal jazz ensembles, and vocal directed the school’s annual variety show. Andrew has performed in a variety of musicals of the years, but most recently has performed with An Octave Above vocal jazz ensemble and the St. Charles Singers. Andrew received his bachelor's degree in Music Education and a Vocal Performance Certification from Elmhurst University, and he also holds a Masters Degree in Educational Leadership from Northeastern Illinois University. When he is not teaching, Andrew spends time at home with his wife, daughter, and two pitbulls.