St. Charles actor enjoys best of both worlds

When you think of young Chicago actors, you think of actors at the beginning of their careers - living in tiny city apartments, working as temps or waiters and appearing in small, edgy shows in their spare time.

Zachary Johnson-Dunlop breaks this stereotype.

For one, he lives in St. Charles. For another, he pays for his actor's life working for a beverage company setting up displays in supermarkets. He does, however, perform in a lot of edgy shows around town.

He is currently a cast member in "What Am I Supposed to Be?" It's one of the pieces in the Ninth Annual Sketchbook Festival, the current show by the scrappy but well-received off-off-Loop theater company, Collaboraction.

"The piece is an ensemble work," Johnson-Dunlop says. "It is an exploration of identity or purpose. The cast goes around through the piece answering that question. It's a serious piece."

This is not Johnson-Dunlop's first foray into Chicago's storefront scene. "I have been involved in the Chicago theater scene for the last four years," he says. And for most of those years he has lived and worked in his hometown, St. Charles.

"When I first moved back to Chicago from college I lived in the city," Johnson-Dunlop says, "but I was working at a job in St. Charles. I was offered a job I had had in the summer, and I took it. I tell you, it was rough commuting from Chicago to work in St. Charles every day."

Johnson-Dunlop figured he could cut down on his commuting time if moved back to St. Charles and only commuted into the city when he was cast in a show.

So far it has worked out well for him. He gets the best of both worlds - the quiet and beauty of St. Charles (plus the job) and the world of theater Chicago offers.

Not bad for someone who has known he has wanted to be an actor since he was cast in a production of "Aladdin" in the sixth grade. "After that production I was hooked," Johnson-Dunlop says.

He continued to do theater in high school. After graduating, he went to Millikin University in Decatur, where he majored in theater.

Then, he was presented with the ultimate question: "Do I move back to Chicago or move on to New York or L.A.?"

Johnson-Dunlop chose a return to his roots. "To be honest, after school it is a funding issue," he says. "I was in debt with student loans." But Johnson-Dunlop also liked Chicago's style. "New York is very bent on musicals and big, big shows," he says. "L.A. is all about the movies. But Chicago has a real independent scene."

Johnson-Dunlop's resume is packed with eccentric little theaters (The Alchemy Theatre, n.u.f.a.n. Ensemble, Stockyards Theatre Project) and oddly titled independent shows of the kind that put Chicago on the map: "Italian Lights: Not Stars," "A Kung Fu Christmas" and "The Last Annual Satanic Achievement Awards."

"Chicago has also got a real family and community environment," Johnson-Dunlop says, "which I hadn't heard of the other places having."

And if you can do theater in Chicago, but live and work in St. Charles, so much the better.

"I love my job," Johnson-Dunlop says, "I merchandise for Coca-Cola. I am one of the guys who stocks shelves at the grocery stores. It is a great workout, which helps me keep in shape for shows. I'd much rather have a day job like this than being a waiter. All the money at waiting is at night, which means I'd have to make a choice. This way I can go in and do my job and still do a show. I can have my cake and eat it too."

• Collaboraction's Ninth Annual Sketchbook Festival opens Thursday, April 16, and runs through May 10 at the Building Stage, 412 N. Carpenter, Chicago. For tickets call (312) 226-9633 or visit the Web site, collaboraction.typepad.com/.