Long before Skokie actress Anna Schutz was wowing audiences in her current role as Charlie Brown's little sister, she was making her mark in dinner theater.

A sort of dinner theater, that is.
"When I was little, when we had people come over to the house for dinner, I would put on a show," said Schutz, 22. "I would make it up, write it, sing it and do it. My dad would say, 'If you come over for dinner, you aren't leaving without a show.'"

Nurtured by an arts-loving family, Schutz studied acting at Niles North High School and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. And no sooner had she graduated from U. of I. than she landed the plum role of Sally in La Costa Theatre Company's current production of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown." She has earned raves in the play, which runs through Aug. 12 at the Red Orchid Theater in Old Town.

La Costa is presenting the revised 1999 version of the musical, which has additional songs and the role of Sally, missing from the 1967 version.

GOING PRO
"We got an outstanding performance from Anna," said Jonathan Hymen, La Costa's artistic director who plays Charlie Brown. "She made the transition from educational to professional theater flawlessly. She's extremely cute, bubbly and hysterical -- everything a comic-strip character should be."

As Sally, Schutz wears a puffy-sleeved pink dress, bloomers, mary janes and a curly blonde wig topped by a big pink bow. She spends much of her time onstage with Snoopy, played by Riley Thomas, with whom she has an entire scene chasing rabbits with a butterfly net in hand.

"Sally is stubborn and silly and playful," Schutz said. "She's really blunt and says what's she's feeling. It's a ton of fun and the cast is a ton of fun, too."
The ensemble nature of the production is a big plus for Schutz, who enjoys playing off the other five actors and drawing inspiration from their ideas.
"I was lucky to get into a small ensemble play starting out," she said. "I was nervous but everyone was nice and welcoming."

What helped also was remembering her training from Niles North teacher Timothy Ortmann, who taught her acting technique, communicated his passion for the stage, and impressed on her the importance of collaborating with both actors and crew. "I still use a lot of the things he taught me," she said.

In addition, Niles North's rigorous theatrical program gave Schutz many opportunities to learn her craft. She played everything from an ingenue lead to an evil duchess, from Gertrude in "Hamlet" to Chava, one of the daughters in "Fiddler on the Roof."

HELPING KIDS
Acting with La Costa has involved her in a less-heralded side of the theater world, when acting companies dedicate themselves to an important cause. In La Costa's case, it's the Reilly C. Bush Foundation, which raises funds and provides emotional support to critically ill children.

The foundation is named for the niece of La Costa member Ashley Bush, who plays Lucy in the show. Reilly died unexpectedly in February, just five and a half years old. Little touches in "Charlie Brown" salute Reilly: the use of pink objects (her favorite color) and wooden blocks with the letters of her name.
Schutz and her colleagues have performed songs from the show at University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital. Only three children were well enough to attend, but the show was videotaped so others could watch it in the rooms, she said.

"It's so nice to be involved with a company that cares about other issues besides getting themselves off the ground," she said.