(Chris Jones’s article appeared in the Chicago Tribune, 9/4.)
They’ve impressed us at TimeLine. Knocked us out at Victory Gardens. Made us chortle at Second City. Blown us away at the Lookingglass. They’re a diverse crew but they all are into truth and creativity, ensemble and commitment, theater and Chicago. And every one is a charmer. Late each summer, the Tribune picks the Hot New Faces of Chicago theater. Come meet our Class of 2018, picked for potential greatness on Chicago-area stages in the year ahead. Photos are by Tribune photographer Erin Hooley.
Isa Arciniegas
This talented 26-year-old actress came to Chicago, via Houston, from Caracas, Venezuela, when she was 18 years old. By 2014, she had graduated from Roosevelt University and, this spring, she was an impressive part of the ensemble cast of “The Wolves” at the Goodman Theatre, where she played a character known as No. 25, the captain of the girl’s soccer team chronicled by the play. Before that, Arciniegas impressed critics with her work in Young Jean Lee’s “We’re Gonna Die” for Haven Theatre. “I want to give voice in the theater to those who do not have voice,” Arciniegas says. “I want to present brown women on the stage and I want to make my family and my country proud.” She’s well on her way. Up next: Appearing in “Such Things as Vampires,” a new musical at the People’s Light Theatre Company in Malvern, Pa.
Photo: The Chicago Tribune
