Sandra Nordgren

Producing Artistic Director / Literary Manager
New York, New York USA

What’s your favorite book / movie?
I am a huge lover of animals. Many dog and horse books.
My favorite non-fiction dog books are: Merle’s Door and Last Dog on the Hill. Fiction Dog Book: The Art of Racing in the Rain. I read Merle’s Door right after my sheltie died.  Merle was, and is, a soothing balm for my aching heart.
My favorite horse books are The Man Who Listens to Horses + Shy Boy, both by Monty Roberts, and Seabiscuit: an American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand. My favorite film about horses is the documentary PBS series Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies.

What play or production changed your life?  
The Secret Garden. I walked in facing a life crisis and walked out knowing how to deal with it! Every single thing about that Broadway production was extraordinary. Saw it three times.

Is there anything you still dream of doing?  
I’m doing it. I am learning about horses and am staying at Birch Glen Stables in Massachusetts as I write this. Birch Glen is among the larger equine centers in MA. What a true blessing this whole experience has been. I’ve expanded my internal horizons doing Soul Journey with Horses here for a second time. I am writing a screenplay about horses and there is something extraordinary that happens when writing in the presence of horses who live in a world that is basically silent.

I feel most like myself when I ….
am free from criticism and left to create in a stress-free environment.

What is your best escape?
A really good movie always does it for me.

What’s the one thing nobody knows about you?  
Can’t think of anything. I am pretty much an open book.

Sandra Nordgren has produced 90+ plays, 100+ readings,16 development workshops, six play festivals. Developed and supervises 40-member summer theatre internship program. Founder: New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest. Playwright: A Christmas Carol (English, French, German, Spanish), The Ice Cream Man Cometh, The Flower. Screenplay: Conversation with a Kleagle.