Last year, Coral Gables High School senior Sarah McCluskey organized an improv show to raise money for the Gables Theater Department.
The event was held at the Open Stage Club at Coral Gables.
“I was the host of the improv show. We performed several different skits and improv games,” she said. “We were all part of the improv troupe at the school. I’m the president of the troupe so that’s why I was inspired to organize the show.”
McCluskey is not only president of the improv troupe, she also is president of the Thespian Troupe and the Theater Club, also known as Gables Players. She is the musical director and choreographer.
“I was one of the only two sophomores to have ever been invited to audition and later accepted into troupe [thespians] at my school. Our troupe is usually reserved for juniors and seniors, but my teacher made an exception for two of us,” McCluskey said.
She has been in the club since ninth grade and she has been in theater most of her life.
“I do musical theater as well. And that is what I plan to pursue when I am out of high school,” she said.
The Gables theater community puts on showcases and one act performances. They also do musicals or plays in theater class.
Last year nine theater students went to state and two received superior ratings, which qualified them for national. They couldn’t go to the national competition because of a lack of funding.
McCluskey also acts with the Area Stage Company and last year she performed in the Improv Jam for Broadways Cares to raise money to fight AIDS.
This summer she spent five weeks at the musical theater intensive called the Performing Arts Project in North Carolina.
She has been accepted to FIU, Belmont University, Wright State University and Marymount Manhattan College. She will make a decision once she is accepted into their respective musical theater programs.
— Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
