The Children’s Theatre Company (CTC) is expanding its longtime company model, creating a new permanent Core Company that brings actors, directors, designers and other theater artists together under one artistic umbrella.
The Minneapolis-based organization, which bills itself as the Tony Award-winning flagship theater for multigenerational audiences in North America, announced the new Core Company on July 8. The expanded group includes seven artists whose work spans acting, directing, sound design and choreography.
Among the new members is Christopher Windom, an acclaimed choreographer whose credits include the MGM feature film Respect, starring Jennifer Hudson as Aretha Franklin.
Windom has also directed and choreographed productions at theaters including The Vineyard Theatre, The Public Theater, Trinity Repertory Company, Guthrie Theater, Alley Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival and Cleveland Play House. He is a Drama League Fellow and holds an MFA from Brown/Trinity and a BFA from Webster University.
Windom will choreograph CTC’s upcoming production of School of Rock The Musical during the 2026-27 season.
The expanded Core Company also includes Antonisia “Nisi” Collins, Melanie Chen Cole, Dean Holt, Autumn Ness, Reed Sigmund and Chauncy Thomas.
The move represents an evolution of CTC’s traditional Acting Company, which has been part of the institution for decades. Artistic Director Rick Dildine said the theater is broadening the definition of what it means to be a company member to reflect the many disciplines involved in creating theater.
Core Company members will serve as regular artistic collaborators while participating in productions, mentoring early-career artists, supporting artistic planning and representing CTC within the broader theater community.
The artists will also have opportunities to develop new projects and help shape future programming.
The 2026-27 season will feature members of the new company across several productions. Collins will appear in Pinocchio and Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!; Cole will serve as sound designer for Twelve Kinds of Ice; and Holt will act in Pinocchio, Princess Kay of the Milky Way, School of Rock The Musical and How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, which he will also direct.
Ness, Sigmund and Thomas will appear across multiple productions, including Pinocchio, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Princess Kay of the Milky Way and School of Rock The Musical.
For CTC, the expansion is intended to create a deeper artistic community while strengthening connections between established professionals and emerging theater artists.
The organization says Core Company members will serve as mentors and role models for apprentices, acting cohort members and other young artists, reinforcing CTC’s focus on creating theater experiences that educate, challenge and inspire young audiences.
With the expanded company, CTC is also looking beyond the traditional boundaries of an acting ensemble, creating a collaborative network designed to influence the theater’s artistic future.