Cast Set For SENTINELS at Theo Theatre

CPA Theatricals and Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre announced casting for their co-production of the play with music SENTINELS, which imagines a secret society of women that supports and promotes each other’s talents in the same way secret societies have supported men. 

The cast to be directed by Christopher Pazdernik (any pronouns with respect) includes a number of rising stars of the Chicago musical theater scene playing the five remarkable women of this play. Dani Pike (she/her), who recently earned raves as the star of  Theo’s one-woman musical TELL ME ON A SUNDAY, will play Maeve – the strong-willed and fiercely independent leader of the Sentinels. Joryhebel Ginorio (she/her), a Jeff Award nominee for her principal role in Theo’s THE SECRET GARDEN, has been cast as the idealistic and diplomatic Katie. Sophia G. Dennis (she/her), who recently played Audrey in LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS at the Beverly Arts Center will appear as the intellectual yet sensual Grace. Maliha Sayed (she/her) will be the visionary scientist Elizabeth. Sayed has appeared in both THE SECRET GARDEN and THE SONDHEIM TRIBUTE REVIEW at Theo, as well as playing Julie Jordan in Music Theater Works’ CAROUSEL. Arwen-Vira Marsh (she/her), whose recent credits include ARTHUR & FRIENDS MAKE A MUSICAL! at Marriott Theatre will play Ashley – a radical lesbian liberal looking to dismantle societal norms. Completing the cast as the President of the fictional university that is home to the Sentinels is Anne Sheridan Smith, a Jeff nominee for her Theo roles in THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS and ONCE UPON A MATTRESS.

The SENTINELS Production Team, in addition to Pazdernik as director, include Britta Schlicht (she/her, Assistant Director and Understudy), Brenden Marble (he/him, Lighting Designer), Satya Chavez (Sound Designer). The technical staff includes Erik Tylkowski (they/them, Production Manager), Nihan Baysal (she/her, Stage Manager), Ismael Garcia (they/her, Assistant Stage Manager/Understudy). Larry Little (he/him) is Lead Producer.

SENTINELS was written by Writers Theatre co-founder Marilyn Campbell-Lowe, with music by Kim D. Sherman and lyrics by Campbell-Lowe and Sherman. It was commissioned by CPA Theatricals, the non-profit corporation founded by Larry Little in 2002 that is dedicated to the development of new plays and musicals. This special limited engagement will play a two-weekend run from August 1 -10, 2025.  Press is invited to review SENTINELS at any of the three performances opening weekend: Friday August 1 and Saturday, August 2 at 7:30 pm, or Sunday, August 3 at 3 pm.

In this play with music, the Sentinels are an all-women secret society of five graduate students at the fictional “Joan of Arc University” in Milwaukee, where they have been meeting clandestinely in an abandoned university room since 1945. Over the years, the Sentinels have been secretly assisting Sentinel alumni who are key contributors to such monumental achievements as the NASA moon launch and the development of a polio vaccine. As the play begins, the present-day Sentinels are facing the dissolution of their society due to the impending razing of the building in which they’ve been meeting. Reviewing documents in their archives on what they fear will be their final evening together, they reflect on their society’s history, looking back on events from 1945, 1952, 1967 and 1973. These were years in which women made lasting contributions to scientific advancement but were also turning points in progress for women – moments when they gained greater agency and autonomy and moved closer to full equality with men. In flashbacks to those five years, we see the developing sisterhood among the Sentinels of each era as they experience the societal sea changes of those periods.