“I’ve had the entertainment bug since I was very young, singing and dance lessons lead to school shows and eventually an acting major at Emerson College. I took everything I could as an extracurricular – makeup EFX and mask making, stage combat, set and stagecraft, playwriting and dramaturgy. As soon as I graduated, I began getting offers to ASM on festival gigs I had been cast in as an actor as well. Stage managing across indie theatres in NYC and Brooklyn lead me to circus arts, drag, burlesque and the avant-garde, performance art in non-traditional spaces, storytelling and community building,” said theatre professional, Sara Minisquero in her customary one-breath.
Sara is a power-player in a rapidly growing group of artists whose diverse acumen make them valuable on ALL levels of the arts. Sara has acted, directed, produced, managed, designed, tech’d on all levels, onstage and television and in film. She recently received kudos as the only woman in Jed Ryan’s cinema send up of the male mode: Modest Male Exposure, premiering at the gene Frankel Theatre late April.
As the world opens-up – not only from Covid but from its veiled prejudicial and becomes more inclusive to all styles and peoples – artist like Sara will be more than valuable, they will be demanded.
The “triple threat” is becoming the omni-artist.
BTSSS spoke with sara backstage of her latest work, Joe Moe’s exploration of a “closeted” form of toxic masculinity, the play, DENY WE WERE.
We laud the actors and directors but those that manage the production are just as important. Tell us why?
We know what happens when you just take a script, some actors, and a director… and it’s called a reading. Yes, audiences can enjoy a reading, but it’s not the same immersive experience you get when a designer considers the era, the clothes, the objects and utensils of the setting that are pivotal in aiding the audience with not just the understanding but the sensations of the world of the play. Mundane or exotic, the full theatrical is a transformative, sacred rite- everyone involved is woven into these moments. Your production management keeps every collaborator in the loop, on course, and well supported through a process that is long but never long enough and incredibly taxing both emotionally and physically.
Tell us a time when you knew you made a difference in the success of a production.
My tried and true champion tale of earning my SM battle stripes came upon a Coney Island production called “The Education of Al Capone (As if Told by Jimmy Durante)”. We had a small cast for a two act original musical featuring the aforementioned famous names plus a few others detailing the exciting life and times of the notorious hometown gangster. As is the nature of the business, we lost our male ensemble member during one night of our run to a miscommunication (or lack thereof) from his manager about being on a film set the entire day. What happened? I got slapped into drag, covered his entire track, still ran fight call and music call (both of which, I had to be folded into rather quickly), wrangled and safety tested our prop guns, AND made practical pasta on stage to serve to the audience for a food fight in act 1. Why would I push myself like this? Because when given the option to cancel the show, the rest of the cast had complete faith that I could do it, and that this audience would enjoy it. I will never forget that day because it finally felt like my choices and my direction in life and my career wasn’t random but entirely what it needed to be to bring me to that very moment.
Play- and Screenwriter, Joe Moe, premieres a new work about an often
obscured section of the LGBTQ community in
DENY WE WERE
Premiering as part of the Fresh Fruit “Return to Live Theatre” Festival
“Deny We Were” by Joe Moe
Directed by Marcus Gualberto
Produced by Jay Michaels in association with Fresh Fruit Festival
Ida Nau-DeLuke, executive producer
Production Design by John Gross
Lighting Design by Maarten Cornelis with Adam Hamdy
Wednesday 5/11 at 6:00 pm
Friday 5/13 at 8:00 pm
Saturday 5/14 at 5:00 pm
at The WILD PROJECT, 195 East 3rd Street, NYC
For further info: freshfruitfestival.com
It’s all LA sunshine and fun until a handsome teenage inquisitor shows up with a chip on his shoulder. When precocious 17-year old Jonah McCabe bunks with adopted “Guncle” Dean Vela, raging hormones take a backseat to burning resentment of his controlling, ex-model dad, Jimmy, and a sneaking suspicion Uncle Dean and dad have been “more than just friends.” Dean deflects. Jonah’s mom, Carrie, vents her issues with partner Jimmy, who she supports financially and who, in return, enjoys it. Who is this gorgeous villain that has everyone eating off of his abs? When Jimmy finally appears in the charismatic flesh, thirsty secrets unravel in the narcissistic centrifuge that spins around an unsqueezable love-sponge. Desire and deceit, all suspended in a soap bubble of wicked humor.
ARTIUM: OMNI 