Roselle actress making her move in 'Chess'

Some actors spend years and years (and lots and lots of money) studying their craft. Others, like Stephanie Herman of Roselle, just act.

Herman, now in her early 20s and currently appearing in Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre's production of "Chess," never studied theater in college. She just jumped straight from high school to the stage. Of course that's the way it used to be done, back in the day.

"I went to Lake Park High School, that's where I found theater," Herman says. "It is a huge theater school. I first appeared in a festival of one-act plays for freshmen."

Later she landed big parts in such school musicals as "Fiddler on the Roof," "She Loves Me" and "Hello Dolly."

Lately Herman has been on a roll. Last summer she played Aphrodite and a Goat in Steel Beam's production of "Wild Goat" in St. Charles (full disclosure, I wrote that show with Mark Hollmann). Later she starred as the love interest, Dot, in The Village Players' production of Stephen Sondheim's "Sunday in the Park with George." Now she is earning great reviews playing a Russian chess master's masterful wife, Svetlana, in the musical "Chess."

To say she did this without schooling would be misleading. Herman did take acting classes here and there, including Second City's classes at The Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in Arlington Heights. Mostly, though, she learned by doing.

"Because I didn't go to school," Herman says, "I hold on to anything my directors tell me."

"Chess" is Herman's first show in Chicago, and to hear her tell it, she is having a blast.

"It is a rock musical (by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson of ABBA fame) and the music is outstanding," she says. "I appear in Act II. I have come from Russia to Hungary to get my husband back."

But it isn't just the material that excites Herman. She likes the family feeling among the folks at Theo Ubique. And she enjoys the No Exit Cafe theater space on the north side of Chicago.

"It really is a cabaret space," Herman said. "That makes it very intimate. It focuses the show on the storytelling. When you are in the space, you really get sucked in."

Also, as a singer, Herman gets a kick out of the fact that the storefront theater is so small they don't need microphones. "The audience is right there in your face," she says. "It is really great. And you can see how you are affecting the audience."

• "Chess" runs through April 25 at the Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre at the No Exit Café, 6970 N. Glenwood, Chicago. Tickets are available at theoubique.org or (800) 595-4849.