At the age of fifteen, Sandy Sidener made her first appearance on the Monterey boards in THE GRIL FROM OUT YONDER, a melodrama presented by Laverne Seeman and Marabee Boone at California's First Theatre. Shortly thereafter, Sandy sang in the Olio, the traditional musical ending for First Theatre productions. About two years later, she appeared in MPC's production of the rock musical GODSPELL. Other musical performances at MPC include her unforgettable rendition of "Tits and Ass" in A CHORUS LINE and her recent impersonation of Ethel Merman in RED HOT & COLE.
Because she moved so often as the child of a career soldier, Sandy knew that she only had a limited amount of time to observe each place and its people. Consequently, she developed the habit of focusing on people and learning what makes them unique, a talent that would enable her to absorb personalities and project them on the stage. In BROKEN GLASS, her most recent role, she draws on her impressions of an acquaintance to breathe life into her New York character. Her characters, their accents and mannerisms, seem so natural that audiences tend to think that they "are" Sandy. As she says, however, "don't want to give people 'me.' I want to give them a character."
She likes to choose her roles on the basis of what her characters have to say, as she did in the Magic Circle production of TALKING WITH at Cherry Hall, where she plays Big 8, a folksy rodeo performer who recalls what the rodeo was like before Corporate America became involved and sprinkled the rodeo grounds with astro turf and used that all-American tradition to sell Marlboros.
Sandy attempts to connect with her audience so that they empathize with the character she portrays. She does so best in contemporary productions held in small theaters. In the SRO production DANNY AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA, for example, she is able to make the audience understand that, like themselves, the lowlife, desperate, bar-hopping woman that she portrays also has dreams and aspiriation.
She perfers to select her own roles but occasionally lets an astute director cast her in a part that she would not have chosen for herself, as occurred when Nick Zanides cast her as the demure and innocent May in SRO's highly successful production of OUR COUNTRY'S GOOD.
Despite her numerous roles on the stages of the Monterey Peninsula, Sandy has not hesitated to try other places and other challenges. She spent six years in San Jose performing in a country rock band and has also been a Hollywood extra and stand-in in Los AngelEs. She has done commericals and voice-overs. Sandy can currently be seen in a local Chevy-Luv-truck commercial. Although she acknowledges that the Peninsula offers opportunities in acting not available in big cities, she would move mountains if the opportunity to do some challenging film roles presented itself, especially the chance to portray strong women. Sandy would like to do in film what she already knows she can do on stage.