For as long as she can remember, Lutheran South senior AnnaKait Peters-Bahkou has been immersed in the world of theater.
“She was four, almost five, and said, ‘I want to do this for the rest of my life,’” Phylan Peters-Bahkou, AnnaKait’s mother, said. “And here we are.”
So far, that statement has held. In the 13 years since AnnaKait’s declaration, AnnaKait has played many roles, including Miss Hannigan in “Annie” and Mother in “Ragtime.” Most recently, she took her talents to the next level, joining the Youth Ensemble for the Muny’s July production of “Fiddler on the Roof.”
“(It) is a crazy experience to work with Broadway actors,” AnnaKait said. “It was kind of unreal because you would be like, ‘Oh, these are normal people,’ and then you’d be like, ‘Oh, you literally are on Broadway; this is crazy.’ They’re just so sweet, and they’re so down to earth.”
As a part of the Youth Ensemble, AnnaKait participated in both the opening and closing numbers, a wedding scene – where she got to do a chairlift – and a dream scene. She also got to bow with the entire cast at the end of each show, which was “so fun.”
“It was really exciting…just being at the Muny,” AnnaKait said.
In addition to the thrill of being a part of a show at the oldest outdoor theater in the country, “Fiddler on the Roof,” being AnnaKait’s Muny debut, was particularly meaningful to her as her family has a deep history with the show.
“That was my grandpa’s favorite show,” AnnaKait said. “So that was really heartfelt. And my uncle was in that show, and so was (my mom).”
“It was the first show we did when I was 6, and then we did it again in high school,” Phylan said. “For her to be able to do it, it was literally keeping up a family tradition, which is the whole theme of the show. It made it so much fun.”
For AnnaKait, theater has always been synonymous with family, especially since starting high school, as her mother is the theater director at Lutheran South.
Since assuming her role in 2020, Phylan has transformed theater at Lutheran South, growing the department exponentially despite the unexpected hardship of the pandemic.
“We came in with purpose and said, ‘We’re going to do this, come play.’ And that’s what we do, we just play, we play all the time. We have a great time,” Phylan said. “It’s growing every year (and) we have big plans for the future.”
These “big plans” partially revolve around the opening of Lutheran South’s brand new $18 million, 626-seat performing arts theater, music room and art studio, dubbed the Jubel Center for the Arts, scheduled to open later this year.
“We started a show design two years ago called ‘LuSo Through the Years,’ and it’s highlights from all the shows that have been done on that stage since 1963, when this school opened, to the present. We’re going to be putting this show together and inviting alumni to come back and do those shows that they did when they were in high school on the main stage again,” Phylan said. “All of our alumni were promised this stage years ago, and it’s always been ‘in the works.’ We’ve always been moving towards this, and now it’s really happening, it’s right in front of us. We want to give our alumni an opportunity to put their feet on that stage because, without them, we would not be here.”
