Cecile Etzbach is a 13-year-old actress, singer-songwriter, and dancer from Miami. Performing locally since the age of four, she’s a veteran of Miami’s Olympia, Mandelstam, and Jerry Herman Ring theaters. On the national scene, she performs with Kids of the Arts (KOTA), Broadway Kids Auditions (BKA), Joffrey Musical Theater NYC, and Interlochen Arts.
Appropriate at Miami's GableStage
Cecile is performing next from January 31 - February 23, 2025. Cast in the role of Cassidy, she appears in the Miami premiere of the 2024 Tony-Award winning play Appropriate by Pulitzer Prize finalist Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. This darkly comic American family drama plays at GableStage’s historic Biltmore Hotel home.
Jacobs-Jenkins, a MacArthur “Genius” Grant recipient and Fulbright Scholar, is considered one of America’s most inventive and profound playwrights. Appropriate received an Obie Award in 2014 and in 2024, a reimagined production, with an updated script and star-studded cast, was awarded the Tony for Best Revival.
The Miami premiere of Appropriate is directed by GableStage Producing Artistic Director Bari Newport. “We have assembled a dream cast and design team,” says Newport. “We are transforming our historic horse stable theatre home into an antebellum Arkansas plantation and look forward to bringing this monumentally raucous dramedy to thrilling life.” GableStage produced Jacobs-Jenkins’ Gloria in 2018.
Cecile has been performing on stage since the age of four, studying locally under Dr. Joy Galliford, Deen and Jim Camacho, Monica Rosell, and Priscilla Blanco. Favorite roles include the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wizard of Oz), Ariel (The Little Mermaid), Krakatuk, Sugar Plum, and Astrolog’s Assistant (Mouse King), July and Duffy (Annie), Clara (A Little Princess), and Buttons (Newsies).
Cecile released her debut album “highs and lows” along with the holiday single “christmas angel” in 2024. “highs and lows” celebrates Cecile’s experiences as a tween who clamors for community that shares her passion and affinity for blending personal accomplishment with supporting others to reach their potential. In highs and lows, she takes the listener on a journey inspired by different events and adventures, visions, and the experiences that others may have gone through.
An accomplished pianist, Cecile is a member of the American College of Musicians’ National Piano Guild, earning six consecutive Superior ratings.
Cecile has studied ballet for 10 years and tap for eight years. She is an active student of former Miami City Ballet principal dancers Jennifer Kronenberg and Carlos Guerra, taking classes with them five times weekly at Mandelstam Dance. She has attended Joffrey Musical Theater NYC since 2019, studying with Matthew Prescott and Maximilien Baud. She began her ballet journey at age 3 in 2014 at Maria Verdeja School for the Arts under Lili Soto, transitioning to Mandelstam Dance as a kindergartener, under Andrea Shelley, Spencer Hering, and Loliette Ribot, when it launched in 2016. She studied tap at Armour Dance Theater under Natasha Williams.
In 2022, Cecile founded a student musician volunteer group, “Making Friends,” that supports Friends of South Florida Music as they bring free weekly music classes to students in Title 1 schools in her community. FSFM’s mission is to leverage the proven benefits of early exposure to music education so that they will have the greatest impact on each individual’s future achievement, and help each student grow and develop into the future contributors and leaders they were meant to be. Making Friends sponsors fundraising and volunteer efforts that ensure six annual events benefit under-resourced music students in South Florida each year.