AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN
FREMONT, CA
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Sandy Cashmark and the Women’s History Tea
By Shirley Gilbert
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| Sandy with the cast of her The Women, Yes! production, which she presented at the Women’s History Tea Luncheon. |
But what of the voice of Sandy Cashmark herself? And what about her own story?
I was lucky enough to interview Sandy at Suju’s Coffee Shop not long ago. It’s easy to spot Sandy: She’s the pixie with the dazzling blue eyes and the rambunctious red hair.
Sandy is a well-known community theater actor and has played supporting and lead roles in many local productions. She admits she’s in love with being on stage. I asked her how that love of acting developed.
“I remember the exact moment,” she said taking a sip of her latte. “It was in the third grade. I was Little Bo Peep in a nursery rhyme production and I got to wear makeup. The first time I heard applause directed my way I was smitten, and then it turned out to be laughter. What I didn’t realize was that I had forgotten to return to my place in nursery rhyme land. I could then hear the loud stage whispers, especially from Jack Horner, whose turn was next. I returned to my original place, but I never forgot that wonderful feeling of being on stage. Suddenly I knew this was what I wanted to do.”
She continued in high school “show business” and won a Lion’s Club public speaking contest.
“I won a steak dinner and a trophy,” Sandy added with a grin. She ended up turning the morning announcements into a high school radio show, with music cues and skits to advertise activities.
At San Francisco State, Sandy studied with Jules Irving, founder of the San Francisco Actor’s Workshop (which morphed into ACT). Irving directed Sandy in Shaw’s “Major Barbara.” “That,” said Sandy, “was one of the most enriching acting experiences of my life; he was absolutely brilliant.”
“Then I got married,” said Sandy, “and I had to make choices. I couldn’t go to New York six month’s pregnant. And New York was certainly the place for an acting career. The fire-in-the-belly for acting had to be put on hold.”
But when her kids were bigger, Sandy rekindled her love for acting through community theater. She’s been in a succession of wonderful plays including Steel Magnolias, Crossing Delancey Street,The Seagull, Separate Tables, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (she was Big Mama and had to be padded), To Kill a Mockingbird, Deathtrap, Picnic, Witness to the Prosecution, You Can’t Take It With You, Little Old Ladies in Tennis Shoes, and Sondheim’s Company.
“Company, explained Sandy, “is the only musical I’ve been in and that was because my songs were sung by a tipsy character who was always in her cups. I’m happy to say I didn’t have to stay on key because I don’t regard myself as a great singer.”
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| I noticed that Sandy's e-mail address spells out "Red Heads Teach Best" |
Along with being an actor, Sandy was a teacher for many years at Newark Junior High and she taught, this won’t surprise you, speech and drama and was the Activities Director.
Sandy has been an AAUW member for over 15 years. She joined initially in 1970, took a break to do graduate work and rejoined in earnest some six years ago. I asked her how she got involved in the women’s history program.
“It’s hard,” she said with a smile, “to say no to Liz Poe.” Liz and Janice Longo, both long-time Fremont branch members, knew that Sandy could bring women’s history to life using the art of Reader’s Theater. Sandy decided to use fellow actors to portray famous women in history and asked AAUW members to help with the narrative.
And so began a four-year dramatic adventure that’s become one of the most anticipated programs in the branch. The first year, said Sandy, the Reader’s Theater troupe portrayed the innovative artist Georgia O’Keefe, the choreographer Agnes DeMille, who revolutionized the American musical genre and Marian Anderson, one of the first African Americans to break the white barrier in opera.
“It took hours and hours to do the research and I just knew it had to be a multimedia production,” said Sandy. “Judy and Ed Huff were so helpful to make this happen. Music and slides showed the lives, art, music and dance of these women.”
This year, if you were lucky enough to be there, you enjoyed the voices of women who were struggling for equality. The quotes were from the book the People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn and the actors and narrators played the parts of famous and unsung women whose stories brought their plights to life – you felt you were there struggling alongside them.
What makes these theatricals so compelling is the research that Sandy does to bring the words of women in history to us all. “Why”, I asked Sandy, “do you think it’s important to remember and preserve the women’s stories”?
“These stories are more than just a good afternoon at the theater. I think of these touching words and deeds as a teaching moment; a tribute to women who have made a difference in our history often at great sacrifice. I’d love for our members to tell their children and grandchildren about the courageous women in our past. They aren’t included in the text books, and I think it’s so critical for the younger generation – for all of us – to acknowledge, pay tribute and honor these women.”
Thank YOU Sandy. We honor you for bringing us so many years of special stories.
