Illinois Shakespeare Festival unveils 2024 Sutter Scholarship awardees: Huntley local hopes to shape the future of theatre
HUNTLEY — Illinois Shakespeare Festival (ISF) Artistic Director John C. Stark recently named three Illinois State University students as recipients of the Sutter Family Scholarship, with one awardee being a Huntley native.
The scholarship was created by Festival patron Craig Sutter in memory of his mother, G. Jean Sutter, and his father, H. Everett Sutter. The Sutter Family Shakespeare Scholarship provides support for a student majoring in acting at Illinois State University and provides recipients with an academic scholarship award of $500 per semester for three years—amounting to $3,000 total.
In addition to the monetary award, scholarship recipients also receive an acting internship for one season with the ISF that helps students expand their skills and gain hands-on experience in a professional theatre environment.
Huntley resident Andrew Conrad Faber is one of the 2024 Sutter Family Scholarship winners and is a sophomore acting major at Illinois State University (ISU). He recently portrayed Victor Frankenstein in the university’s stage adaptation of Mary Shelley’s 1818 gothic horror Frankenstein. Faber was also an understudy for the role of Dr. Martin Dysart in the Equus stage play put on by ISU. He will take on the role of Demetrius this upcoming spring in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Faber and fellow ISF scholarship recipient Devin Creighton will be members of the 2025 ISF acting company. Creighton is a Naperville native and is also a sophomore at ISU where she is majoring in acting and theatre education.
The third ISF scholarship recipient, ISU junior Sage Brown, is a graduate of Bloomington High School and is majoring in acting, while also having earned certifications in several areas of stage combat. He will be a member of the 2024 ISF acting company.
Brown, Creighton, and Faber are all members of the cast of Bard in a Box, an official ISF touring group. Bard in a Box performs shortened versions of William Shakespeare’s plays at middle and high schools throughout the Bloomington-Normal area.
