Young Buffalo Grove actress, producer ready for Brooklyn

Cassie Johnstone has been a part of the theater in almost every imaginable sense since first grade.

Johnstone is a recent graduate of Buffalo Grove High School and runs her own company, the Johnstone Underground Theater. She is a theater polymathic, having written, directed, acted, sang, cast, played music and taken on many other duties that go into a theater production.

This weekend J.U.T. is performing its final play, an adaptation of Phillip Pullman's trilogy, "His Dark Materials." Johnstone will head to Brooklyn College in the fall, where she will pursue a career in theater.

"His Dark Materials" is based on a fantasy trilogy written by Philip Pullman ("The Golden Compass," "The Subtle Knife" and "The Amber Spyglass" adapted for theater, hat tells the coming-of-age story of two children who travel through a series of parallel universes. They are accompanied by their "daemons," animal-shaped counterparts to individual souls that always stay nearby.

Johnstone has a role in the play, alongside Ambria Bernardi Brandon Sokol and Mack Rivkin.

"(Johnstone) has given my son and other high school kids opportunities that they otherwise would not have had," said Maureen Rivkin, Mack's mother.

J.U.T. got its name because some of the first productions put on by Johnstone took place in her family's basement. She directed her first play in fifth grade, and has since put on many plays and even written a few original scripts.

"She really does a bit of everything," said Robin Johnstone, Cassie's mother.

Her mother cited a specific instance when Johnstone was in the show "Sanctuary." She acted in the show and between scenes would quick change, run down to the orchestra pit, and play piano for some of the scenes. She pulled it off so skillfully only her parents knew what was going on.

Robin and Paul Johnstone played an integral part in their daughter's productions early on, but have since let her take the lead to put on the shows.

Johnstone said that J.U.T. usually performs adaptations of books and modern takes of historical events.

"I love to read, and when I read ("His Dark Materials"), it inspired me artistically," said Johnstone. "We're going to give it our all, creatively."

The shows are done almost exclusively by area teenagers, many of whom have been a part of multiple productions.

The students' love of theater has now translated into college majors. While Johnstone is off to New York to study theater, Mack Rivkin is going to Illinois Wesleyan to double major in theater and environmental biology.

"His Dark Materials" will be shown at 7:30 p.m. tonight, Friday, and again at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, at Northbrook Theater, 3323 Walters Ave., Northbrook.