Sherry Landrum, the artistic director of the Chattanooga State Repertory Theatre and head of the Professional Acting Training Program has had a more than impressive career. The acting bug bit Sherry as she acted out scenes while standing on the kitchen table of her childhood home because in her young mind the entire world was her stage.
Landrum grew up realizing that this acting bug was not going away and in 1965 landed her first acting gig in the play Home is the Hunter. It was there that she met her husband, Rex Knowles, a fellow cast member. Sherry and Rex married in 1969. In the early 70s, they began touring with the national production of Godspell starting in New York and ending in Los Angeles where they remained for 15 years while Sherry continued acting and began her career in directing and writing. Relocating to Crossville, Tennessee, she wrote and directed the musical, Smoky Mountain Suite, with George S. Clinton at the Cumberland County Playhouse in 1988.
In 1992, it was on to New York City where Sherry earned her master’s degree in theatre arts at Antioch University. While earning her degree, Sherry and Rex were both offered jobs as teachers at The New Actor’s Workshop. A decade later, the husband and wife team were invited to Chattanooga to start a similar program at Chattanooga State. They immediately accepted and the Professional Acting Training Program was born.
However vast Sherry’s resume may seem, it does not end there. She is also affiliated with such professional organizations as SAG AFTRA, AEA, SDC, and the Dramatists Guild. Sherry’s acting experience includes various roles in many films and commercials, as well as television programs.
Her writing and directing experience includes not only, Smoky Mountain Suite, but That Other Woman’s Child, which was accepted into The New York Musical Theatre Festival. She has directed world premieres of Del Shore’s, Cheatin’ and Daddy’s Dyin’ Who’s Got the Will?
Her awards include two Best Director’s Awards from Los Angeles Drama Critics as well as the Best Director Award from the Tennessee Theatre Association.
Sherry is grateful for the support given to her and her husband Rex by everyone on the Chattanooga State campus. Sherry states, “At Chattanooga State, I have gotten the opportunity to create an acting program based on what I have learned about acting in more than 30 years of experience and education and I make it available to students who might not be able to afford it otherwise.”