RISE Series E10: Sandy Sahar Gooen (TEMPO)
The Women & Theatre RISE Series presents mini-interviews conducted at the Inaugural RISE Summit with network partners of RISE Theatre, all of which are organizations working to increase equity in the theatre industry. In this episode, Hayley and Amy talk with Sandy Sahar Gooen from TEMPO. Scroll down for episode notes and transcript!
Episode Notes
Hosts: Hayley Goldenberg and Amy Andrews
Guest: Sandy Sahar Gooen, TEMPO
Music: Chloe Geller
Listen to all published episodes of the Women & Theatre RISE Series here.
Many thanks to RISE Theatre, Maestra Music, Playbill, and all the amazing organizations working to increase equity in theatre!
Episode Resources:
About TEMPO:
TEMPO (Trans & Expansive Music Professional Organization) is an organization for artists under the trans/gender expansive umbrella as well as the music umbrella, predominantly within musical theatre. We work intercommunally and intracommunally. We partner with other organizations that share our goal of opportunities for growth as music makers for groups who have been historically overlooked.
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Episode Transcript
(Music)
Hayley: Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to the Women & Theatre RISE Series! We’re your hosts, Hayley Goldenberg…
Amy: …and Amy Andrews! On this series, we share mini-interviews conducted at the Inaugural RISE Summit with network partner organizations of RISE Theatre.
Hayley: We’re thrilled to uplift these amazing organizations that are working to make the theatre industry a more equitable space.
Amy: Today, we’re excited to share our interview with Sandy Sahar Gooen from TEMPO.
(Music)
Hayley: Hello, beautiful people! We are here at the Women & Theatre Podcast booth at the RISE Summit with Sandy Sahar Gooen from TEMPO. Sandy, could you please share your pronouns and tell us a little bit about TEMPO?
Sandy: Absolutely! I’m Sandy, I use he/him pronouns. TEMPO is an acronym. It’s also - it means time, it’s very music referential. It stands for Trans and Expansive Music Professional Organization, and we are exactly that. We partner with Maestra, we partner with RISE and a number of other organizations. We’re dedicated to the music side of the industry, and the population that we serve is trans and non-binary. Our hope is to educate and empower. We connect trans people to each other and trans people to non-trans people who make music.
Amy: Thank you, Sandy. Could you please tell us about something you’re working on right now that’s lighting you up?
Sandy: Sure. A bunch of us just got back from the Trans Celebration Weekend in Fire Island, where we got the opportunity to perform with singers and musicians, all trans.
Hayley: That’s amazing.
Sandy: We got to have some beach time, some pool time.
Amy: Incredible.
Sandy: …and spread the word about Maestra and TEMPO and other organizations. And now, one of the big things - we have a lot of things underway, but one of the things that we’re excited about launching soon is our mentorship program that’s modeled after Maestra’s, which is going to be spearheaded by Anessa Marie…
Hayley/Amy: Fabulous!
Sandy: …who is a Broadway music director, queen, trans woman, part of our board.
Hayley: Slaying everything she does, basically.
Sandy: Yes! She’s getting married soon.
Hayley/Amy: Yay, congratulations! Congrats Anessa!
Sandy: …like, in a week or so.
Hayley: Nice.
Amy: Amazing.
Hayley: Sandy, could you tell us about a challenge that you see facing the theatre industry right now?
Sandy: I wrote six words thinking about this.
Hayley: I love it.
Amy/Hayley: Six words!
Sandy: Yes. Insularity as a barrier to access. If you have any questions about that, I’m happy to expand on that.
Amy: Please, I’d love to hear you expand on that a bit more.
Sandy: Sure. I love that we are a close-knit family in theatre. However, we only see and know who we see and know. What I love about today’s event and events in general like this is that I get to see what other people are working on. And that gives me more information for how I do my work and also connects me to new people who have different perspectives. But as things function now, there is sort of this - you stick with the people that you met first and then you do not venture outward.
Hayley: Yeah, totally. It’s a culture in our industry, for sure, of doing that, and I think that until we make those connections, we’re not going to change that, for sure.
Amy: Yes, absolutely. Sandy, what is one small step listeners can take to make the theatre industry a more equitable space?
Sandy: Share knowledge whenever possible. I made this one even simpler.
Amy: Four words!
Hayley: I love how concise you are.
Sandy: Four words that are not even dictionary words, not even Scrabble words. If you know about something and you know a person that you think would benefit, tell them about it. If you have a plus one - this is something that I have taken inspiration directly from Georgia Stitt, founder of Maestra - if you have a plus one, you don’t have to bring your significant other. Maybe you don’t even have a significant other. You can bring someone that you know belongs in that room but was not invited to that room. But you were. So you can bring them.
Hayley: Yes.
Amy: I love that, that’s so good.
Hayley: Yeah, I’m gonna take that with me, that’s really good. Thank you for that, Sandy. Could you share where our listeners can find you and find TEMPO online?
Sandy: Yes. You can find TEMPO on Instagram @theeetempo. Like Megan Thee Stallion. (laughter) Credit to one of our board members, Temidayo Amay, for coming up with that.
Hayley: Amazing.
Sandy: And then you can find me - if you’re interested in my work and learning a little bit more about me - at @silentwhat on Instagram - it is a reference to the musical Spelling Bee, for those curious as to why that’s my tag.
Hayley: All you theatre nerds out there, we know you’re listening.
Amy: Love it so much. Yes, all the theatre nerds are like, “I feel seen right now.”
Hayley: Yes.
Amy: Amazing. Thank you so much for being here with us today!
Sandy: Thank you for having me.
Amy: And thank you all for listening to our conversation with Sandy Sahar Gooen from TEMPO.
(Music)
Amy: Women & Theatre is a proud network partner of RISE Theatre.
Hayley: Thank you so much to RISE, Maestra, Playbill, and RISE Program Manager Victoria Detres for collaborating with us on this series. Thank you for listening to the Women & Theatre Podcast. We’re your hosts, Hayley Goldenberg…
Amy: …and Amy Andrews! If you like what you heard, subscribe and give us a 5-star review wherever you listen.
Hayley: You can also follow us on social @womenandtheatreproject to make sure you never miss an episode.
Amy: The music for this show was written by talented Women & Theatre community member Chloe Geller.
Hayley: Thanks again for listening, everyone. See you next time!
Amy: Bye!
