by Manjit Handa
Name: Sara VanBarneveld
Famous as a stage actress by the name Sara Weber
Age: 30
Her job: Staging small skits and plays concerning awareness of cancer and helping cope those struck with the deadly disease
Born and raised in Alabama, Sara was the youngest of the three children. She had a great childhood and loved sports. She had loving parents, only her mother smoked. She came to Canada in 1997 to study for a year, but ended up graduating with BA in Theatre and meeting her future husband. In the November of ’97, her mother was diagnosed with lung cancer and soon the doctors removed one of her lungs. The following June, Sara was married, which was a quiet family affair because they did not want to stress her mother with her condition. The same year in August her mother was diagnosed with brain tumor which was also operated upon and everything went well but unfortunately the next year in August, she was diagnosed with another tumor in the brain. Luckily, the operation was successful again. Once again, in December, the same year, she was diagnosed with another brain tumor. During this time she had to undergo radiation therapy, which was January 2000. In April 2000, her brother got married and at the wedding, everyone could tell that her mother was not well. On May 12, 2000 Sara got a call from her father and he told her that her mother was in the hospital because she had infection in her intestines. Everyone went to see her and on May 20, she died of the infection. She was 55 and Sara mere 25.
With her mother’s death, Sara was broken and did not take it very well. She was doing some odd jobs at that time (which included a receptionist in a company and coordinating at another place), which she quit and wept all the time. After a couple of years, when she felt better and stabilized, she decided to write a story about her mother. This, she sent to the Toronto Fringe Festival (a theatre festival). Meant for small, local amateur talent, they called her and she staged her mother’s story and her fight with cancer. Traveling various places, she mainly staged this small play in Toronto, London and Vancouver. There was no looking back after that. She got calls from the Cancer Society of Ontario, Dordt College, Iowa and Minnesota including various schools and Cancer Society conventions where she readily performed.
Sara still performs these plays and apart from the applause she gets in the performances, it is the conviction and hope that her audience derives, that gives Sara the ultimate satisfaction. She recalls one incident in Toronto, when after her performance a very upset looking guy came up to her and she gave her condolences presuming that there must be someone with cancer in his family. To her surprise, the guy gave her a huge hug and confirmed that everything was fine in his family and that he felt that “he had lost her mother.”
The first year after Sara’s mother’s death was cathartic, especially going through her letters, pictures and knick-knacks. Later and even now, the performances are more of a job and inner calling. But the audiences and the affected families definitely find her performances cathartic. Especially because of the courage and humor with which her mother braved through the deadly illness and her anecdotes Sara uses in her performances. She recalls, after her mother’s second tumor surgery, there was a huge smiley face sticking on her head and when asked, she said that it was a free tattoo they were giving to anybody who had brain surgery. She (her mother) was not afraid to be crass and rude with her jokes and laughed the whole way through. It seemed she was always ready to go, which helped the family with closure. There was nothing left unsaid between and amongst the members of the family.
Setbacks of life: Sara divides her life in two halves—before and after her mother’s death. Earlier she was a free bird, careless, physically fit and lackadaisical. Later she became angry, cynical and also gained weight; her discs in the lower back erupted and as a result she had to have a surgery in 2001.
Sara has a daughter now, she has never been a smoker and she has pledged never to do so in life, the price of which she saw her mother paying, every moment through her disease.
Acting Career: Even after a degree in Theatre from Redemer in Ancaster, it was difficult getting a break in the real world of acting. She auditioned for various companies and one fine day light shone. She got a small part in a play in which one of the actresses had called sick and rest is all history. She has recently worked in a film called ‘Friend of Mine’ scheduled to be released in February 2006. There are occasional setbacks, as with every field, when she is rejected for a role, but her loving husband (a contractor) sees through those low phases and cheers her up.
Her source of inspiration: Her Mother and her Jewish grandparents from World War II who had nothing and made everything. Most of all, God and the feeling that she is being taken care of, in spite of all the imperfections.
Her message to the novice in acting: “Keep auditioning and if it does not work, write and stage your own stuff. Most of all,, enjoy your family.”
For anyone touched with cancer: “Laughter and comedy helps, as it made my mother’s final years enjoyable and memorable. Have hope; believe in miracles, not everybody dies from it.”
You say it, and we believe it!
For bookings and more information on Sara’s forthcoming shows, please send an email to her.
