Sentinels – a Play With Music
CPA Theatricals has created a play with music –
featuring SIX strong roles for females.
Written by Marilyn Campbell-Lowe
Music by Kim D. Sherman
Lyrics by Marilyn Campbell-Lowe and Kim D. Sherman
Story by Larry Little and Nicholas Reinhart
What do these monumental events have in common: the first Black woman to star at the Metropolitan Opera, the election of the first female leader of a Muslim country, and the discovery of polio vaccine? None of those would have been possible if not for THE SENTINELS: a secret all-female society operating out of a university in Milwaukee. This is their story.

Based on a concept by Larry Little and Nicholas Reinhart
and developed by groups of young women in Chicago.
Synopsis
A small, domed room, once an observatory, is tucked away on the top floor of a Milwaukee university’s legacy academic building. Mysterious graffiti, mathematical formulae, and cryptic phrases cover the walls. Unbeknownst to the rest of the university, this room has been the home of The Sentinels: a small, secret group of young college women who have pledged to make the world a better place and to assure that women will join men in powerful positions making global decisions.
For over six decades, their top-secret work has changed history, elevated women to power, and impacted business, government, science, and the arts. Now, with news that the building is being torn down to make way for a new parking lot, the final members of The Sentinels convene one last time to share their storied history.
How did this group start? What are those secret accomplishments in each generation? What can happen next? SENTINELS tells their story.
GITELMAN & GOOD Publishers
SENTINELS can be licensed for production at your theatre. To receive a free perusal script, click below.
Casting/Roles and Meet the Writers
MAEVE (The Trailblazer). Current Sentinel Leader. Studies law and political science. Aspires to public office and a seat at the table. Radical feminist, overachiever on a Mission. Liberal, assertive, decisive, fiercely independent, strong-willed, quick, brilliant, a real boss. She can be abrasive and has a strong sense of self-belief. She dreams of being a world leader and making her mark.
GRACE (The Intellectual). Medicine. Sensual. Enjoys male attention and that is reflected in her appearance and her viewpoint. Catholic. Traditionalist. Comfortable with established gender roles. She comes from a large Catholic Wisconsin family. She struggles to reconcile her faith with ideas that challenge traditional gender roles. She dreams of being a doctor, wife and mother.
KATIE (The Free Spirit). Passionate performing artist and activist for social justice. She throws her whole heart into everything she does. She sees the best in people and has a knack for finding common ground. A bridge-building truth teller. She dreams of world peace, higher consciousness and creating art that inspires change and unites people. She practices yoga which provides her with a sense of peace and focus. You might catch her flowing through some yoga poses when things get tense.
ELIZABETH (The Visionary). Scientist first, spends her time in the lab looking to make scientific breakthroughs that will change the world. Brilliant. Futurist. Peacemaker. Speaks several languages and has a photographic memory. She has been mystical and clairvoyant since childhood. This creates an internal conflict sometimes between her scientific reason and her intuition. Her conservative parents expect marriage and children, but Elizabeth has a brain and intends to use it. She’s ambivalent about her sexuality.
ASHLEY (The Rebel). Engineer. Radical lesbian liberal looking to dismantle societal norms. She isn’t afraid to question authority and challenge the status quo. She is proud of her sexuality and not afraid of expressing it. She’s confident, funny and sarcastic with a unique perspective. Her wit can be biting, but is often laced with truth. Ashley longs for connection. She dreams of equality, a seat at the table, and acceptance for who she is.
PRESIDENT SUREHAM (First Female President of Joan of Arc University). DR. SUREHAM has a sharp gaze that pierces through others. She is intelligent, experienced and exudes an air of authority. Beneath her stern exterior lies a compassionate heart. She genuinely cares about her students and is always willing to lend a listening ear. Dr. Sureham was raised in a working-class Wisconsin family, she studied hard and earned a scholarship to the University of Wisconsin, where she went on to earn her masters and her Doctorate. She is an ordinary woman doing extraordinary things.
Marilyn Campbell-Lowe (Author, Co-Lyricist) is a co-founder of both the Writers Theatre-New York and the Writers Theatre in Glencoe. She is also an Original Core Founder of New Classics Collective, (Paul Oakley Stovall, Artistic Director). Her co-adaptation with Curt Columbus of Dostoyevsky’s CRIME AND PUNISHMENT (Joseph Jefferson Award for New Adaptation) has enjoyed over 100 productions across the country and internationally from London, Greece and Hungary to Australia and Indonesia. It has been produced at such distinguished US theaters as Berkeley Rep, Intiman Theater, 59th Street Theater, Cleveland Playhouse, Actors Theater of Louisville, Indiana Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, Baltimore’s Center Stage, Trinity Rep, and numerous productions on the West Coast. In 2009 the play won an L.A. Backstage Garland Award and a nomination from the L.A. Drama Critics Circle for Best New Adaptation.
Other plays include THE BEATS (based on the writings of the 1950 beat writers) first produced at Writers Theater in 1997, starring David Cromer and named one of the best productions of the 1997 Chicago theater season by the Chicago Sun-Times. Its revival in 2011 at 16th Street Theater was named one of the best shows of the season by Kelly Kleinman of WBEZ radio. MY OWN STRANGER a co-adaptation with Linda Laundra, based on the writings of Pulitzer Prize winning poet Anne Sexton, was first produced off Broadway in 1981 and won a Villager Downtown Theater Award for “Best Production.”
Kim D. Sherman (Music, Co-Lyricist) composes for the theater, opera, the concert stage, and film. Her music-theater works include LOVE’S COMEDY (a chamber opera based on the play by Henrik Ibsen with libretto by Rick Davis), and several musicals, among them: HEARTLAND (book and lyrics by Darrah Cloud), O PIONEERS! (book and lyrics by Darrah Cloud), HONOR SONG FOR CRAZY HORSE (book and lyrics by Darrah Cloud), and THE TWO ORPHANS (book by Theresa Rebeck and lyrics by Theresa Rebeck and John Sheehy). On Broadway, she wrote incidental music for Paul Rudnick’s hilarious play I HATE HAMLET. She has written incidental music for many plays in regional theaters throughout the United States. Her many compositions for piano, solo vocalists, choruses, and chamber music can be found at www.kdsherman.com/bio.
Reviews
“imaginative, earnest, and certainly timely” – Talkin’ Broadway
“Inspiring!” – Chicago Theatre and Arts.com
“Strong and Vibrant” – Evanston Roundtable








