Seeking Stories

Giving voice to stories that might not otherwise be heard is one component of the live theatre experience that Sara Harrington doesn’t take for granted. And in her years of work in the area performing arts scene, she’s been gratified by the opportunity to encounter and live out so many of these stories on and off stage.

Sara Harrington

“It's the storytelling,” Harrington said. “I'm very much about being a voice to those who don't have one. And I think theatre is one of the best venues to provide that story. That is one of the biggest joys of theatre —being able to be heard on a grander stage. For me, it’s always been about the story and about whose life I can touch with it.”

The frequent Mighty Corson Art Players (MCAP) past board member, artist and educator came to theatre in adulthood, with Mount Marty University director Andrew Hendrickson helping to kick off her appreciation for the artform.

“He was my catalyst for my love of theatre,” Harrington said. “He kind of took me under his wing my freshman year and introduced me to, just, the life.”

As a student, she eventually transferred to now Augustana University, where she completed her bachelor’s in theatre in 2003. Her journey took her to the classroom next, though, and theatre as a personal practice went to the backburner for a spell.

“I went off to teach theatre to high-schoolers for about six years, and then decided I wanted to have a family and babies,” she said. “So I took a 10-year hiatus and missed it terribly.”

It was in 2019, when Harrington found herself stage-managing a production of Steel Magnolias for the since-renamed Sioux Empire Community Theatre, when that hiatus officially came to a close.

“It just reopened all the flood gates for me,” she said. “And so I just started to kind of expand again and try auditioning and just seeing what's out there. I knew there was a rich history in Sioux Falls for theatre and it was really picking up again, and it brought me out to Corson to audition for a show called Ada and the Engine.”

Her first dalliance with MCAP offered her a chance to meet then-artistic-director, the late Brian Schipper, who helped provide a theatrical home that she’s spent a great deal of time in ever since.

Sara Harrington (far left) with the cast and crew of Mighty Corson Art Players’ 2019 production of Ada and the Engine

“Brian was such an inspiration and such a big part of my life for about four years, and he reminded me that you can be weak and you can make mistakes, but it's how you kind of pick yourself up and how you adjust to life,” Harrington said. “He gave me my chance at directing again. He believed in the things that I was trying to do. MCAP really has been home to my creative soul for the last four years.

“I love it out there. It's a family environment. We have fun and it's small — and I like that kind of intimacy for storytelling.”

Harrington has played onstage and off, assisting, volunteering and helping with front of house, but this directing bug is the thing that continues to spark her fuse.

“It allows you to pick apart the story and really delve into what the playwright was trying to get at,” said the theatre artist, who also fulfilled dual roles as actor and director for a recent Broad Cast Theatre production of Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End. “It’s bringing the truth to the stage. It’s the playwright’s story to tell, and we're just kind of putting it out there. Character development and pushing actors to try to be opposite of who they are and make it believable — but then also making the story relatable to a lot of people.”

This collection of experiences has helped to form the theatre creator that Harrington is, from her days in a musical quilters group in Freeman that pushed her singing, to work in Corson and Sioux Falls like MCAP’s Sleeping Indoors and Erma Bombeck that have opened her eyes to the impact theatre can have on her life.

“We're all very unique in our own ways, and oftentimes it's a safe space for someone to just be themselves,” she said, citing MCAP as a great catalyst for this sentiment. “When you come out here, it just feels like it's just for you. It's your own intimate space where you get to hear a story. The history — that building has been there for a long time. The theater's been there for 42 years. There's so much history and the space just breathes it. It's just a fun place to be.”

A feeling of belonging is something that Harrington hopes her own children can experience, should they ever have a dalliance with theatre themselves.

“My kids love to come out to Corson,” she said. “They're often running around the theater helping me do things. They've been to a couple shows. My son, I very much foresee him being on stage. He is definitely going to be a showstopper. So I'm hoping to keep exposing them to all of that so that they can see why I love it. That's really important to me.”