Sarah Marek, Cotter class of 2000,  continues to pursue dreams in New York and has recently garnered awards at the LA Web Series Festival for her show Off Awful, which chronicles a the struggles of an actress trying to make it in New York.

After first moving to New York to undertake a career as a professional actor, Sarah Marek now pursues producing. “I always knew that I wanted to move to New York to act,”  Marek writes, but now enjoys producing for it’s unique set of challenges.

“I started acting when I was six … I got serious about training and planning for it starting in middle school.” Marek starred in Hansel and Gretel at age six with the St. Mary’s Page Theatre, and in Anne Frank -her first serious role- when she was in middle school, at the La Crosse Community Theatre.

Marek was very active in the Cotter theatre and music community. “Some of my favorite roles were playing Miss Adelaide in Guys in Dolls, Dolly Levi in Hello Dolly and Hermione in A Winter’s Tale.” But she didn’t stop there, while attending St. Mary’s, Marek continued acting.

“There was a great arts/theatre community at Cotter.  We had a tight knit group of students that made theatre/music their ‘thing’ and got a lot of support from the rest of the Cotter community. I am grateful to my classmates for being supportive of me and my art at that time.”

Acting on the  professional level  is a whole other ballgame. “You only have one job, to create a compelling character and take direction. You also get to interact with your audience,” says Marek about acting, ”but you are limited by how you look and where you fit.  You also don’t have any control over the rest of the production or the business of the project you are working on.”

Why producing?

“The perk of producing is it allows me to choose the content I want to be a part of  instead of letting it choose me.  It has given me a chance to make my own opportunities instead of waiting around for them.”

 After recent LA Awards, her online show Off Awful won two awards- Outstanding performance for a lead actor and outstanding performance for a supporting actor. The awards helped get word out about Off Awful and potentially expand the audience.

“I hope that people that people in or interested in the entertainment world identify with and enjoy (my web series). I also hope that it creates future opportunities for my team and clears the path for my next project.”

To view the webseries Off Awful, visit www.offawful.com

To learn more about Sarah’s transition from Winona to New York, you can visit her blog, Winona- New York at  http://sarahjanemarek.blogspot.com

Here is a recent profile from the Winona Post:  http://winonapost.com/stock/functions/VDG_Pub/detail.php?choice=57871&home_page=1&archives