Sarah Rudinoff (born August 26, 1971) is an American actress, singer, and writer. She was the recipient of a 2004 Genius Award from the

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

alternative weekly newspaper '' The Stranger''.

Life and career

Born in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...

, and raised on the island of

Kauai Kauai, () anglicized as Kauai ( ), is geologically the second-oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands (after Niʻihau). With an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), it is the fourth-largest of these islands and the 21st largest island ...

, Rudinoff, a self-described "half-

Episcopalian Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the l ...

, half-

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

" Steve Wiecking
Best Woman in Man's Clothing
''

Seattle Weekly The ''Seattle Weekly'' is an alternative biweekly distributed newspaper in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded by Darrell Oldham and David Brewster as ''The Weekly.'' Its first issue was published on March 31, 1976. The newspaper ...

'' Best of Seattle issue, August 4, 2004. Accessed 20 March 2006. has lived and worked in a number of North American cities. She has appeared in ''Negative Space'' and

Richard Foreman Richard Foreman (born June 10, 1937 in New York City) is an American avant-garde playwright and the founder of the Ontological-Hysteric Theater. Achievements and awards Foreman has written, directed and designed over fifty of his own plays, b ...

's Ontological Hysteric in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and in several new plays at the Mark Taper Forum in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

; she is based in Seattle. Described by David-Edward Hughes of ''Talkin' Broadway'', as "a big-boned, whiskey voiced stunner", she has appeared in many of Seattle's professional theatres including starring as Ruth in "Wonderful Town" and Hildy in "On the Town" at the 5th Avenue Theatre. Rudinoff is probably best known to rock audiences for her turn as Yitzhak in the original Seattle production '' Hedwig and the Angry Inch'' and her solo shows ''Broad Perspective'' (1998), ''Go There'' (2003) or ''The Last State'' (2004), a piece about growing up ''

haole ''Haole'' (; Hawaiian ) is a Hawaiian term for individuals who are not Native Hawaiian, and is applied to people primarily of European ancestry. Background The origins of the word predate the 1778 arrival of Captain James Cook, as recorded in s ...

'' in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. In presenting her the Genius Award, Sean Nelson of ''The Stranger'' wrote that she "is one of maybe 10 performers in town who have achieved the distinction of local stardom in non-rock-band live performance. She sings like a demon, equally comfortable belting rock, jazz, or blues... Rudinoff is not the kind of actress who 'disappears' into the roles she plays. She's the kind of actress who explodes out of her roles with heroic, instinctive, and fearless performances." The rival ''

'' named her "Best Woman in Man's Clothing" for her title role in ''Ubu'', Ki Gottberg’s reworking of

Alfred Jarry Alfred Jarry (; 8 September 1873 – 1 November 1907) was a French symbolist writer who is best known for his play ''Ubu Roi'' (1896). He also coined the term and philosophical concept of 'pataphysics. Jarry was born in Laval, Mayenne, France, ...

's ''Ubu'' plays. As a musician and singer Rudinoff makes music with We Are Golden and in 2010 she was included in photography book chronicling 100 Seattlites that make a difference to culture in the city – A Seattle 100. Rudinoff is a star of

Wes Hurley Wes Hurley is a Russian-American writer and filmmaker. He has collaborated with many theater, drag (clothing), drag, and cabaret performers in Seattle and raised awareness of human rights violations in Russia. Early life and education Born and r ...

's musical comedy ''

Waxie Moon in Fallen Jewel ''Waxie Moon in Fallen Jewel'' is a 2011 pop-art musical comedy from cult filmmaker, Wes Hurley. It stars the renowned performance artist, Marc Kenison as his gender-bending burlesque personae Waxie Moon, as well as The Stranger Genius-award wi ...

'' in which she plays two roles and performs the musical number "Everything is On Fire". Rudinoff also sang the title song composed by Eric Lane Barnes for the documentary ''

Waxie Moon ''Waxie Moon'' is a documentary directed by Wes Hurley and centered on the gender-bending Juilliard-trained burlesque performer, Waxie Moon (performer), Waxie Moon. The film captures the burgeoning and mostly-queer neo-burlesque community in Seatt ...

'' also directed by Hurley. In 2013 Sarah Rudinoff and Gretta Harley premiered their original play, ''These Streets'' based on real-life stories of female rockers during the

Grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...

era of

's music scene. As part of their research for the play Rudinoff, Harley and filmmaker

conducted dozens of video interviews of female musicians of the era, including

Vanessa Veselka Vanessa Veselka (born March 14, 1969) is an American writer best known for her 2020 novel '' The Great Offshore Grounds'', which won the Oregon Book Award and was longlisted for the U.S. National Book Award. She is also known for her first nov ...

and Carla Torgerson of

The Walkabouts The Walkabouts were an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984. The core members were vocalist Carla Torgerson and vocalist and songwriter Chris Eckman. Although the rest of the line-up changed occasionally, for most of the time ...

. Rudinoff is a graduate of

Iolani School Iolani is a masculine Hawaiian name meaning "royal '' hawk''." It comes from the Hawaiian words ''ʻio'', meaning "Hawaiian hawk," and ''lani'', meaning "royal." It may refer to: *ʻIolani School, a private school located in Hawaii *ʻIolani Pala ...

and

Pitzer College Pitzer College is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. One of the Claremont Colleges, the college has a curricular emphasis on the social sciences, behavioral sciences, international programs, and media studies. Pitzer is k ...

. She works as a

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

agent.David Schmader
Actor's Market: The Mysterious Link Between Performance Art and Real Estate
'' The Stranger'', March 16–22, 2006. Accessed 20 March 2006.

References

External links

Sarah Rudinoff
official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Rudinoff, Sarah 1971 births Living people American musical theatre actresses American stage actresses Actresses from Hawaii 21st-century American women