Meet The Team
Founder
Kristine Bonaventura
Graduated with her BA in Theatre Arts: Directing & Acting with a Costuming concentration & Fine Arts Business minor from DeSales University and has been working in all aspects of theatre ever since. After living in Philadelphia for 10 years, Kristine moved back to South Jersey and jumped right back into the performing arts community. Here she noticed a desire for reviews to acknowledge the hard-working and extremely talented theatre community and decided to take matters into her own hands; thus South Jersey Theatre Critics was born.
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Reviewer
Brian Herrick
Originally from Winslow, NJ, Brian recently moved back to the area after living in Manhattan for the last 10 years. During that time he has been seen on various national tours, cruise lines, dozens of regional contracts, and everything in between. He is the CEO and a talent agent for The Hell's Kitchen Agency, a New York based agency having placed over two dozen actors in various Broadway shows, as well theatrical endeavors spanning all 7 continents. When approached to review with SJTC, Brian jumped at the opportunity to not only celebrate the artists he's surrounded by, but perpetuate dialogue around the high caliber of Theatre in this community.
Reviewer
Aimee Ferenz
(She/Her) is honored to be a part of South Jersey Theatre Critics. She joined at the start of 2024 and has found a great joy in supporting the arts locally while utilizing her writing minor. Aimee is an elementary music teacher and a music director/performer with 20+ music direction credits and 50+ performance credits. Aimee also is working on creating her own musical and is thrilled to have so many different works and writing styles to learn from. Her favorite part of reviewing is getting to see performances that she otherwise might not have gotten to see and sharing the evening with her fiance.
Reviewer
Alex Davis
An actor, a writer, an occasional director, a baker, a soap and candle maker, a cat mom, a lover of all things Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars, a MBMBAMino, a D&D-er, and the vice president of Burlington County Footlighters, where she's spent the better part of 17 years. Alex shares an apartment with her 2 cats, Linus and Agnes (only one of them is well-behaved), and her wonderful fiance Matt (he is mostly well-behaved) who she met during a production of "Dead Man's Cell Phone". She thought he was mean and unfriendly at the time and, naturally, as every love story goes, a year later, they were dating.
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Reviewer
Lisa Palena
A high school English teacher who has worked at Maple Shade High School for over fifteen years. Alongside teaching, theater has always been a passion of hers. As a teen, Lisa performed in her school shows, but as she got older, she realized she preferred to work behind the scenes as opposed to appearing onstage. For 8 years, she directed shows at Maple Shade, with some of her recent directorial credits including Beauty and the Beast, The Addams Family, Puffs, and RENT: School Edition. In 2019, she was asked to assistant direct The Laramie Project with Lori Howard for Maple Shade Arts Council, which ignited her interest in community theater. She has since worked on many shows at Burlington County Footlighters and The Ritz Theatre Company and has loved every minute of it! Currently, Lisa is stage managing Gint, set to open in June at The Ritz. When she found out about South Jersey Theatre Critics, she knew that writing reviews would be a great way to combine her enthusiasm for both literacy and theatre arts. In her first year as a reviewer, Lisa critiqued four local shows and she looks forward to many more opportunities to share amazing theatre productions with all of South Jersey!
Reviewer
Cassidy Scherz
I am a full time student at Long Island University, and I plan to receive by BFA in musical theatre. I have been performing since I was 5 years old, and I have worked at theatres across South Jersey, including Haddonfield Plays and Players, the Ritz, and Voorhees Theatre Company. I have worked with Kristine a couple times, and I was honored when she asked me to be a part of her review committee!
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Reviewer
Amber Kusching
Amber Kusching is proud to be a reviewer with South Jersey Theatre Critics! Amber is a South Jersey-based playwright, director, actress and theatre reviewer. In the past ten years, Amber has been a part of over 200 shows in the local community, Philadelphia, NYC, and virtually. Amber holds a degree in theatre from Montclair State University. At 30 years old, Amber has directed more plays than years she’s been alive and she has written more than 100 plays ranging from one-minute to full length pieces. Amber is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and is also a regional reviewer for BroadwayWorld.com. When Amber is not working on a show or writing, she enjoys bowling with her mom, building Legos with her fiancé Tony, and spending time with their cats Gatsby and Cleocatra.
Reviewer
Stephen Kreal
Stephen Kreal started in theater in 2018, and has been in numerous productions since that time. Recent credits include “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” (Schmendiman) and “Doubt: A Parable” (Father Flynn), both at Masquerade Theater. He played Phil Bennett in “Epic Proportions” at Playmasters Theater Workshop (September 2023), “Sordid Lives”(2023) and “The Shadow Box”(2022) at Haddonfield Plays and Players, “Natural History” performed at BCF in 2021, and the role of Mr. Wilson in “Harvey” at Village Playbox (2020). He is a local public school teacher with two adult daughters (Abigail and Victoria) and his son-in-law, Mattthew. He is in a long-term relationship with Lisa Croce. Stephen is an advocate for raising awareness about heart disease, and would like to encourage everyone, if you have not done so already, to talk to your doctor about a cardiologist consultation: “The life you save could be your own”.
Reviewer
April Johnson
April Johnson is a lifelong resident of south Jersey. She works for Exelon Corporation and has her own brand, Dope Churchy Girl, as a life coach/content creator/beauty business. April and wears various hats in the SJ Theatre scene as a performer, director, and stage manager. It is a pleasure and an honor to serve as a reviewer with South Jersey Theatre Critics. Thank you Kristine!
Reviewer
MJ Smith
Mj Smith (He/Him) is new to the New Jersey theatre scene and is so glad to have found South Jersey Theatre Critics! As an artist, actor, and now writer, he’s been thrilled at the opportunity to dive deep into the art that he has seen so far thanks to this organization and his amazing boyfriend Will Reid. After growing up in the theatre and pursuing theatre and American Sign Language at the University of Virginia, Mj has been seeking the chance to get back to it after moving to New Jersey and found that chance with South Jersey Theatre Critics! Mj is grateful to his boyfriend, Will Reid, for pushing him to apply to be a writer and supporting him through every line, and for his family and friends who have cheered him on at every moment in his life!
Reviewer
Evan Harris
Evan Harris is a comedian and actor best known for his work with The Hotspurs!, South Jersey’s greatest improv comedy troupe. He’s been seen onstage at Haddonfield Plays & Players, The Ritz Theatre Co., Burlington County Footlighters, and Masquerade Theatre in numerous shows. It’s his passion for Theatre, Bachelor’s in English, and insatiable lust for attention that make Evan the perfect fit for writing reviews for SJTC. He would like to thank the irreplaceable and proudly gluten-free Kristine Bonaventura for the opportunity to write again.
Reviewer
Lori Caplan Clark
A South Jersey resident for over thirty years, Lori fell in love with theatre in her youth, and decades (and decades) later, her passion for the arts shows no sign of subsiding. Lori has performed in countless shows throughout her life, as well behind the scenes work doing costume design, events production, video production, graphic design, marketing, and sound design. By day, she is Temple Beth Sholom’s Communications Manager, mother of three and grandmother (Bubbe) to two gorgeous babies. Many thanks to Kristine Bonaventura for the opportunity to bring attention to the tremendously talented theatre folk here in South Jersey.