Critics!

Regular readers know that our longtime theater critic, James Reel,
recently “retired” from the Tucson Weekly (although he’s still
stepping in to help out when I am on vacation, and for that, I thank
him).

The theater-reviewing duties have been taken up by two people:
Sherilyn Forrester and Nathan Christensen. I asked each of them to
write up a bio, and here they are (edited for space).

Sherilyn Forrester: Scene: A darkened stage. A spotlight cuts
the dark revealing Sherilyn Forrester lounging on a chaise, center
stage. She is flipping through the newly published History of
Theater in Tucson Since the Late 1970s. She searches for her name.
Ah, here we go. Actor, singer/songwriter, playwright, educator, writer,
theater reviewer (?!), B.A., summa cum laude, Lipscomb College, majors
in literature and communications. M.A., Department of Dramatic Arts,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She sighs. Then feeling
she might not be alone, she looks around as the lights come up slowly,
revealing dozens of people she recognizes as those with whom she has
worked over the years. She rises from the chaise and joins her
colleagues. A moment in the spotlight is OK, but the real deal is being
a part of The Company.

Nathan Christensen grew up in Bartlesville, Okla. Nathan grew
up playing classical violin, soloed with the Bartlesville Symphony
Orchestra and composed a women’s quartet at age 19 that is being
performed internationally. At Brigham Young University, Nathan
discovered drama classes were much more fun than music courses, and
ended up graduating with a degree in playwriting. He attended New York
University’s graduate musical theater writing program, and began
working with composer Scott Murphy. They wrote Broadcast, a
musical about the history of radio, which earned them awards and a spot
on the Dramatists Guild’s “50 To Watch” list. They are working on a
musical adaptation of Lois Lowry’s novel The Giver. Nathan moved
to Tucson to attend an entrepreneurship program at the UA. So far,
Nathan loves living in Tucson, and he thinks it would make a great
setting for a new musical some day.

This article appears in Oct 22-28, 2009.