No Stopping Stanford-Bound Naperville Actor

NAPERVILLE, IL --- Naperville teen Johnny Rabe has performed on stage since he was 10 years old throughout professional theaters in Illinois and even on Broadway. Still, there's one role he'd love to tackle: Tony from West Side Story. "The sole drive behind everything that [Tony] does is that he’s so in love," Rabe says with a slight wistfulness in his voice. Wistful because he's lived his life the same way, propelled at full force by his love for theater.

Rabe, who had been a victim of bullying at his former high school, told Patch that everything clicked into place once he found his home at Chicago Academy for the Arts. Already a seasoned stage actor by the time he was in middle school, Rabe notes that bullying was done by a small group of students in his former school. "There were a few instances where I’d be shoved in the hall and someone would be like 'get out of my way [expletive],'” he says.

At Chicago Academy for the Arts, Rabe was given the tools and support to fully tap in to his thirst for theater. He stresses that kids who have been bullied should know that it can get better.

“Trusting my heart in that this is what I love and following the thing that makes me happier than anything else in the world is definitely going to be the right choice.”

Choices have been on Rabe's mind a lot lately as high school draws to a close and his love for theater seems to inform each one of those choice. The star student recently turned down offers from Northwestern, USC and Virginia to study theater and international relations with a minor in music.

Since he turned 18 on April 7, Rabe has not only signed on with one of the most prestigious colleges in the country, he's wrapped his two-act senior recital, attended prom, and flown to New York to record a concept album for a friend's musical.

Rabe is surprisingly humble and focused, despite his accomplishments. In reflecting, he says his life would have taken a much different path if he hadn't tapped into his love for theater and music and nurtured them via Chicago Academy for the Arts.

As far as taking on his future and the rest of the world, Rabe said, "I want to take in as much of everything as possible."

And we're pretty sure he will.

Images provided by Lilah Rabe via The Marriott Theatre, Lincolnshire