Roselle native plays street-wise sister in 'Nunsense'

Actress Amy Malouf grew up attending Catholic schools. “But,” she said, “I was never taught by nuns like these.”

The Roselle native is referring to the nuns at the heart of “Nunsense,” a comic musical about the lovably daft Little Sisters of Hoboken.

In the current production at the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in Arlington Heights, Malouf stars as Sister Robert Anne. The street-wise Brooklyn-born nun is a far cry from Malouf herself.

“When she was in the seventh grade she was sent to St. Clare's School for the Deplorable,” Malouf said of her character. “But she was changed and inspired by one of the teachers there. Still she is tough and a little edgy.”

The story revolves around the nuns' attempt to raise money to pay for the funerals of 52 of their fellow sisters, who were accidentally poisoned by the cook, Sister Julia, Child of God.

This is Malouf's first time performing in this popular, often-produced musical. It's appropriate, though, since her theater roots go back to her own Catholic School education at St. Francis High School in Wheaton.

“I didn't make the volleyball team freshman year,” she says. “So I tried out for the school play.”

Malouf ended up appearing in productions all four years. After graduating in 2003, she took theater classes at the College of DuPage and then majored in music theater at Illinois State University.

“It was at the College of DuPage I figured out theater is what I wanted to do,” Malouf said. “I was in a production of ‘Godspell,' and the director, Amelia Barrett, encouraged me. She said I was good but it would take a lot of work and humbleness. But I knew that was what I wanted to do.”

Since graduating from ISU in 2007, Malouf has been working a lot, including starring in seven shows at the Metropolis alone. She specializes in funny, offbeat characters. In Metropolis' production of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” last year, she played the annoyingly perfect school girl Marcy Park.

This time around, Malouf's character is anything but perfect. Sister Robert Anne speaks with a tough Brooklyn accent and swaggers through the show like she belongs in a production of “Guys and Dolls,” not a sweet-natured show poking gentle fun at a Catholic education.

And Malouf is loving it.

“Ever since I was young, I have loved musicals,” Malouf enthused. “I used to watch Mary Martin playing ‘Peter Pan' over and over. I knew then performing would be something I wanted to do.”