Sandra M. Bloom

Actor, Stage Manager
New York, New York USA

It’s Wonderful to Know Where You Belong.
A financial adviser recently asked me, “When do you want to retire?” “I don’t,” I said. “No, you don’t understand,” he said “When do you want to stop working?”  “No, YOU don’t understand. They’re going to have to carry me off stage.”

I’ve always known I would wind up somewhere in this business.  I can’t conceive of doing anything else.  I was always writing poems and short stories, but it wasn’t until I was 12 that I discovered I had an ear for dialogue and wrote my first play, an event that was to change my life.  My teacher, who was studying for his Masters, used our class as his guinea pigs.  Creative ideas abounded. What started out as a simple class project soon fell apart.  Everyone else found a more enticing project, except me.  I worked on the play until it was finished. Submitting it, I was asked which role I wanted to play?  Horrified, I said “I wrote it for the rest of the class.”  In an effort to involve this strange quiet child, to interact with others, the teacher suggested that I direct the play.  Not knowing I didn’t know how to direct, and with the bravado of innocence, I proceeded to do just that, producing it as well. I was very good at that. It was a success. Thereafter I wrote other plays, directed them and branched out to direct other people’s plays. I probably would have gone on in that vein if something hadn’t happened.

My senior year I was directing when a teacher asked for my help.  Someone cast in the upcoming production refused to learn her lines.  Would I take over the part? To this day I have no idea why I said yes. But somebody had to do it.  Perhaps I knew that the play must go on. My moment onstage was enlightening.   In an instant I knew this was where I truly belonged.  Within this world all the parts of me would come together.  I would find my niche within this field.  And I did.

Sandra M. Bloom While currently I have a dual career as an actor and a stage manager, I started as a playwright and director.  Currently: finished one benefit as an actor and working on another as a stage manager.  I served 25 years as an elected representative on AEA’s governing body, the Council.