Love it-love it-love it!!!
I am copying this review from the Evanston Round Table, because I think it will be removed from the newspaper website very soon!
Sentinels may be a play about the important roles women have played throughout history, but it tells the story in a decidedly unusual way. History unfolds backward and forward in the production at Theo (the cabaret theatre on Howard Street) leaving the audience to consider the outcomes in a world devoid of the contributions made by intelligent, impassioned and impactful women.
Through scenes set in different historical eras, five graduate students at “Joan of Arc” University in Milwaukee come together to form a secret society following a credo of “Disagree!”, “Act courageously!” and “Infiltrate!” Unlike the Skull and Bones, in which men of wealth, education and privilege combine to push each other higher up the ladder, Sentinels are average Midwestern women who are anything but average — dedicating their lives to pursuing their ideals and propelling women and all people forward.
One of the first scenes finds four Sentinels auditioning a student physicist/mathematician to join the group, by helping NASA complete computations for a moon landing. Without her help, the outcome could have been very different. The audience is introduced to diminutive Joryhebel Ginorio who deals with her personal challenges (she embarrassedly whispers, “I’m a lesbian”) while simultaneously rescuing NASA.
Arwen-Vira Marsh is a compelling character in every scene, demanding the audience’s attention whenever she is on stage. Along with Marsh, Maliha Sayed and all the Sentinels confront the realities of co-existing, competing and flourishing in a world where power is held by men, while working diligently to make contributions the world desperately needs from them.
In a scene set in 1956, the Sentinels are assisting with the development of the early polio and smallpox vaccines, when one of the group admits to her Russian heritage. Is Harriet (Sophia Dennis) a spy … or just a graduate student with immigrant roots, fighting racism while helping American and Russian scientists collaborate on important discoveries?
In the most affecting scene, it is 1972 and a Sentinel has developed a home-pregnancy test, using fellow students for her beta-test. Marilyn, a 1970s feminist, takes the test only to find herself unexpectedly pregnant. Actor Dani Pike gives a strong and vibrant performance, forcefully advocating for herself while discussing with intelligence and sensitivity her options for the future. Ironically, her choices in 1972 are superior to the few choices many women have today.
The play relies heavily on history, and playwright Marilyn Campbell-Lowe weaves examples of women’s accomplishments throughout. Because of the challenge of creating multiple sets in an intimate space, director Christopher Pazdernik uses exquisitely curated period costumes to transport the viewer from decade to decade.
The play’s finale includes a song about the unbreakable resolve of the Sentinels, admitting that there is still much work to be done.
To underscore the point, blackboards are unveiled, filled with the names of countless women — Sandra Day O’Connor, Billie Jean King, Betty Friedan, Ketanji Brown-Jackson to name a few, some who have influenced the world in the past and others who are continuing to do so.
Once the play is finished, the audience is reminded that the work is not over. They are invited to think about the women in their own lives that have accomplished great things – in whatever form that has taken — and add their names to the blackboard.
Several women from the audience added names of their children to the board, one taking a picture to hold the message close.
At a time when it feels like society is going backward, the cast of Sentinels is urging us all to stand up and only face forward.
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My friend Laetitia and I signed our names on the blackboard and took a picture together. And I told her that that’s why Trump has no future here – we fight back!
Hettie's Reflections 