Sherry Narens (2023)
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Sherry Narens lost her battle with cancer on Tuesday, May 2. She was at peace, at home, and with her beloved cat, Merly.
When she was at University of Chicago she met James O'Reilly. He became a mentor to her, and cast her in “Ladies in Retirement” at Body Politic. By that time, she had already blazed a trail at Second City, and had many wild adventures with her early Second City cast mates and the likes of Abbie Hoffman. Sherry was a member of the New Old-Fashioned Baroque Compass Players, an improvisational group that performed in Hyde Park in the late Sixties. In 1974, she played Elise in the Midwest premiere of David Hare's play "Slag" in Chicago, directed by Gary Houston, and played General Matilda B. Cartwright in the 1978 production of "Guys & Dolls," at the Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre in Lincolnshire. In Sept 1991, her play, "Theresa Brassoon," was performed in an Oregon Shakespeare Festival Play Reading production at the Carpenter Hall in Ashland, Oregon, with Henry Woronicz artistic director and director. In addition to performing, she was a director and an award-winning playwright, and mentored many budding writers at Chicago Dramatists. She also studied ballet with a Russian master and had the honor of performing with Rudolf Nureyev. She had a deep love of nature, particularly trees, and left Chicago to move to the Pacific Northwest, where she pursued this connection through the study of shamanism. |