PRESS
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
Broadway World, Jim Munson
The two actors who make the strongest impressions are Phil Wong and Luisa Sermol, both playing a mind-boggling array of minor characters with an abundance of skill and artistry and absolutely no fuss. Wong kicks off the show as unctuous radio emcee Freddie Fillmore ...Sermol shows perhaps an even greater range, from her deliciously batty Zuzu carefully plunking out notes on the family piano to her ultra-saucy Violet to her Mrs. Bailey, all grandmotherly warmth and stalwart decency. Is there anything these two actors can't do?
DEIRDRE, THE HUMANS
Oregon Artswatch, Bobby Bermea
"While a scene is happening on the floor below, she just stands there … and even so, it takes an act of will to tear your eyes away from her. Much of The Humans is artfully choreographed chaos — but not this. Sermol comes to a stop and time stops with her. Though you know next to nothing about this Deirdre Blake’s life, on a visceral level you feel everything that has brought this character to this moment. You feel the weight of her life, the joys long past, the choices made, the brokenness, the frustrations, the boundless love. It’s a moment that not all actors have in them. There is nothing to do. You just have to be. And few actors do that better than Luisa Sermol…..Her hallmark is being able to dig down to the depths of her soul and leave it all on the stage."
DEBORAH, THE SIEGEL
Talkin' Broadway, Eddie Reynolds
"Luisa Sermol especially seems ready to step out and take over the show as a stand-up comic."
ELIZABETH, SAN MERCI
Willamette Weekly, Rebecca Jacobsen
“The better exchanges are those between Sermol and Tidd that explore the perversity of grief: how we wish we could wear our misery like a scar across our face, forcing everyone to see it; or how we're stubbornly glad when the pain refuses to fade. In the production's most lived-in and affecting performance, Sermol chatters from nervousness and keens in agony.”
ELIZABETH, SAN MERCI
Oregon Artswatch-A.L. Adams
“Sermol is a vessel capable of holding oceans of dramatic tension before spilling over…which is exactly what Sans Merci demands. Wait for the flood. Wait for it.”
SLADJANA, ARCHDUKE
Mercury News, Joanne Engelhardt
"...the hilariously surly cook (Luisa Sermol)"
MARY STUART, MARY STUART
The Oregonian-Holly Johnson
"Most valuable performer: A highly unfair distinction in a cast full of fine actors, but Sermol earns the honor. She is luminous as Mary Stuart, sensual yet with the carriage of a queen, playful one moment, angry the next. She's both regal and down-to-earth, full of energy even when at rest.”
ENSEMBLE/CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE
Oregon ArtsWatch, Bob Hicks
"There is fine work across the cast: …Luisa Sermol (her creakily chirping Granny testifying to the judge brings down the house)."
HEATHER RAFFO'S NINE PARTS OF DESIRE
The Oregonian-Barry Johnson
“Over the years, Luisa Sermol has built a well-deserved reputation as one of Portland's finest actresses, tackling complex roles like Maria Callas in Master Class and the tortured mom in Sideman.
She has reached an entirely new level with her superb, nuanced performance in 9 Parts of Desire.…"
“And yet love is at the core of each of the nine women in Desire, and Sermol makes you feel every bit of their passion in the play's heart-wrenching climax. “
HEATHER RAFFO'S NINE PARTS OF DESIRE
Portland Mercury-Temple Lentz
"Heather Raffo's 9 Parts of Desire is one of the most compelling pieces of solo theater you will ever see on a Portland stage...
Sermol convincingly and completely inhabits each of these characters, transitioning from one to another with a flick of her hair, a drape of fabric, and nuanced changes in posture and voice."
DOTTIE, NOISES OFF
Regarding Arts, John Orr
"Luisa Sermol.. is very, very funny as Dotty."
JOANNE, COMPANY
Broadway World, Krista Garver
"Finally, Luisa Sermol. It takes a special kind of performer to fill shoes that were once worn by both Elaine Stritch and Patti LuPone. Sermol does this with ease. Her "Ladies Who Lunch" well deserved a standing ovation."
Westside Art Review, Tina Arth
"Among the rest of the cast (three girlfriends and five couples) there are several really stunning moments, both in solo and ensemble work. Most memorable for me are Luisa Sermol (“Joanne”), Joel Walker (“Peter”), and Justine Davis (“April’). Sermol’s inebriated, strident, sardonic “The Ladies Who Lunch” is the ultimate anthem to a generation of cultured, educated, intelligent women wasted by a society. that lionized their empty lives. By the end, when she repeatedly cries “Rise!” I was hard pressed to stay in my seat."
HELENA, THEY PROMISED HER THE MOON
Theatrius, Patricia L. Morin
".. dutiful, comical, pie-making mom Helena (charming Luisa Sermol) tries to instill 1950s “domestic” values into stubborn Jerrie."
DONA MILLA/OLD FLORA, BOLEROS FOR THE DISENCHANTED
Oregon Artswatch, Bob Hicks
"It’s a cat-clawing, resigned, bedeviled, betraying, tortuous knot of a marriage that Sermol and Schulz reveal to be also somehow deeply affectionate and enduring… Watching Sermol rise to a passion you understand that age is a trickster and a mystery, and that good acting can give us glimpses of its depths.”