Lori Stich Obluda
Posted September 28, 2026
Anne Negri Lewinthal
Class of 2003: Educator and playwright
Anne Negri Lewinthal enhanced her love of theatre at Ripon, and now she shares that love with children through teaching and writing plays specifically for children.
She was born Dec. 9, 1980, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. She came to Ripon College because of the opportunity to major in theatre and French and also participate in forensics. During a children’s theatre class with Professor Emeritus of Theatre Ken Hill, she experienced a pivotal moment to enhance her lifelong love of theatre.
Anne Negri, Class of 2003, left, and Chelsey Patti, Class of 2005, check their diaries in the play “The Importance of Being Earnest” in the 2002-2003 season at Ripon College.
She also participated in forensics and debate, Symphonic Wind Ensemble, theatre and WRPN radio. She stayed an additional year at Ripon to earn her education license. She was recognized with an honorary doctor of fine arts degree from Ripon College in 2022.
She received a master of fine arts in theatre for youth in 2010 from Arizona State University.
Lewinthal is a drama specialist in District 65 Evanston-Skokie (Illinois) Public Schools and has written several plays for young audiences. “With Two Wings,” published by Dramatic Publishing, received the 2014 American Alliance for Theatre and Education Distinguished Play Award, the 2010 Kennedy Center ACTF-Theatre for Young Audiences Award, was a finalist in the Bonderman Playwriting for Youth Symposium, and has been produced nationally and internationally (Japan and Taiwan).
Chelsey Patti, Class of 2005, left, and Anne Negri, Class of 2003, right, are served tea in the play “The Importance of Being Earnest” in the 2002-2003 season at Ripon College. Behind them are Ian Brooks, Class of 2005, left, and Katherine Schoofs, Class of 2005.
Several of Lewinthal’s plays are listed by Plays for New Audiences (PNA), the script-licensing division of the Tony Award-winning Children’s Theatre Company: “Maddie’s Fridge,” “Girls Who Wear Glasses,” “Cave Boys,” “The JunGirl Book,” and “Oz: The Land That Time Forgot.” Her short plays are published by YouthPLAYS: “The Case of the Missing Rooster” and “A Portal to Fairytale Kingdom” and Dramatic Publishing: “Stay Peculiar.” Other plays include: “Robyn Hood,” Not a Test,” “The Transfer Student,” and “The Dancing Dog!”
In 2020, Lewinthal received the Illinois Theatre Association’s Award of Excellence in Creative Drama.
She says sharing stories with young people is vital. “Sometimes, in the stories we tell young people, it is the first time they’ve ever thought about that idea. Our job as theatre creators, writers and thinkers is to give them hope. That’s one of the wonderful things about children’s theater. The goal is always to see that light and to see hope in that story.”