Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sasha Friedman Keefer. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Sasha, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I’ve been dreaming of being actor since I was 12 years old. I remember the moment very clearly while I was performing “Oliver” in our school play. I loved being in theater. It gave me so much joy and fulfillment to be able to escape into a character that was completely different than myself. I was an immigrant child. We moved from Russia when I was 8 years old and I had a tough time adjusting. I felt very isolated and different. I didn’t fit in and had a hard time making friends. I finally felt happy when I discovered acting. Fast forward to college. I loved being in theatre department and being in my element and immersing myself in my craft. I really wanted to be an actor after college. But reality set in very quickly. I realized that acting was not going to pay the bills and I went back to school for a teaching degree. For the next 25 years I worked as an elementary school teacher and loved working with kids. I felt lucky to have found a second passion that I was good at and decided to do acting on the side as a hobby, Fast forward to getting married and having a child. I did not have anymore free time since I was focused on raising my son and eventually going through a divorce. I became a single mother and acting was put on hold. This was a very difficult time with many challenges and I struggled on many levels including giving up acting. The one thing that gave me so much joy was gone with no hope of doing it anytime soon. Fast forward to college and getting remarried to someone that supports my dreams. I’ve turned 50 last year and decided that it’s my time to finally pursue acting. I’d been working at the same school as a kindergarten teacher and loved it. I liked the security and never really though about pursuing acting as a career. I saw it a huge risk of failing and not being able to support myself. But I started thinking about it and began taking acting classes again and performing in sketch comedy. I was so nervous to get back into acting after so many years. My confidence was low but soon I got back to that amazing feeling of being on stage and how healing it was for my soul. I decided I was going to get involved again while I was working. I found an agent and began auditioning for film and commercials. I was hooked on acting once again. You just can’t escape your destiny. After several years of being in the industry I realized that I could not fully be a working actor and having a teaching job at the same time. I started thinking and planning about how I was going to transition careers while at the same time have a flexible job which gave me opportunity to do acting jobs. I came up with an idea of starting a tutoring business and found a way I could pursue acting and still generate a steady income. This was my biggest fear. It takes a long time for actors to find jobs and the risk was too high. So I began working on my tutoring business for a few years while I was still working and finally decided to take a leap of faith and leave my job. Last year, I started a theater company with my husband, Scott Keefer and we are preparing for our second production called “Doubt-A parable” playing Sept 22-25 at 7 Stages, Backstage Theater. I’ve also acted in some low budget films and acted in a few commercials. Recently, I saw myself on a tv show. I’m finally living my dream. It took me a while to get here but I finally took that risk that I was always afraid to take. It’s never too late to start again.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am the Artistic Director of “Authenticity Theatre Inc.” We are a new non-profit theatre company in Atlanta. Our mission is to entertain and inspire audiences through though provoking productions that create awareness and reduce stigma of real human issues. We select shows that have something to say with themes of mental illness, LGBT, addiction, family dynamics and overcoming life’s difficult obstacles. We feel that theatre has the power to heal people which I’ve experienced myself when I first discovered it a child.

In your view, what can society do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

The best way to the support the arts is to buy tickets and spread the word. Selling tickets is the only way we can pay for a production which has huge costs. Many theatre companies do not have to means to have their own theatre space and rely on renting space from other theatres which is very costly. It’s very hard for a new company to stay afloat because of this. Buying ads and sponsorships is also vital to a theatres survival. Of course donations are incredibly important.

Is there a mission driving your creative journey?

I want to use my talents as a way to make a difference in peoples lives. Having gone through many hardships myself, I developed a sense of responsibility to ease human suffering.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.authentictytheater.org
• Facebook: Authenticity Theater
• Other: @sashagkeefer