Cindy SugaRush Casado, Comedy Tonight and Every Night
By Robert Waddell, October 23, 2009
 When you think of comedy obvious names leap to mind: Lenny Bruce, Carol Burnett, George Carlin, Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor and Robin Williams, all unique geniuses of laughter. This is no joke and certainly not a punch line but Cindy Casado’s name might well be added to that list one day. Casado, creator of the SugaRush Comedy Show, is a frenetic, energized and fast paced talent who has re-created the variety show with a modern, urban twist.
When Casado, who grew up in the Bronx, was in the third grade, Henry Street Settlement brought a puppet show to her school, since then she fell in love with theatre. In the 6th grade she wrote her first two plays. In high school, a friend noticed Casado was so “hyper, so on” that he gave her the nick name “SugaRush,” which has stuck ever since. She earned her Associates Degree from Borough of Manhattan Community College in business administration. However, it was comedy and theatre that continued to hold Casado’s attention.
In her comedy act, Casado, who is Dominican and Puerto Rican, created characters from her Bronx youth, people like La Bodega Bochinchera, Pancha, the noisy neighbor and Doña Fela, the highly anxiety neighbor. She uses her contemporaries, the people she grew up with and how their lives turned out, in comparison to her life, and uses her experiences as material for her comedy.
She considers herself lucky, in fact, Casado’s mother called her “La Unica.”
Also from her childhood, Casado found a deep well of stand-up material in the Pentecostal Church where she and her family were members. (Certainly, it can be extrapolated that Theatre is Casado’s real church filled with the word of laughter and the holy ghost of talent from her Latino community.)
“I went to a very modern church,” said Casado. “We had children out of wedlock and wore bamboo earrings and we wore jeans because Jesus cares what’s in your heart not what you wear. It tends to be good comedy.”
In April of 2007, Casado created the SugaRush Comedy Show, at Camaradas in El Barrio. In her variety and comedy show, Casado presents her own comedy as well as presents the talents of other poets, dancers, musicians and more. Now, three times a month Casado hosts The SugaRush Comedy Show at the Oxygen Lounge, The Nuyorican Poets Café and the Bruckner Bar and Grill. “It’s a comedy show basis with a variety show twist,” said Casado.
On October 16, Casado kicked off “The SugaRush Comedy Show presents Travesuras con Cindy SugaRush” at the NPC featuring bi-lingual comedians. Back at Camaradas in El Barrio, she performs with the Sugar Bush band, another project on Casado’s busy schedule.
“Working with Cindy was and is a lot of fun,” said Delilah, a rock, blues funk singer and songwriter who performed in Travesuras and with the SugaRush band for the first time.
“She is a barrel of laughs, she is very creative and passionate, and has a lot of drive and determination. She lets no obstacle or hurdle get in her way and I admire that. I am looking forward to …be working and collaborating with Cindy a lot more on future projects.”
For Casado, bringing diverse acts on stage allows her to collaborate with other performers while creating a variety style niche for herself. It’s like putting logs and logs on a fire but the flame is never extinguished, it only burns brighter.
“Being that I'm so diverse, I'm doing sketch comedy, stand-up comedy, the whole thing with the band; singing, vocalizing, doing poetry, I can’t do this alone,” said Casado. “I rely on a community of artists to get their art form out there.”
Casado, to be sure, is generous with her stage, collaborating with artists of various genres.
“I take this as an opportunity, to not only, showcase my own talents in its variety,” said Casado, “but also the talents of the people in my community and I can show them love.”
Sindy Vega, who has seen Casado’s SugaRush Comedy Show on 3 different occasions, complimented Casado for being so funny. “She’s outgoing, goofy, very out there. It’s cool that she likes to bring on rappers, break dancers and a DJ,” said Vega.
Vega, an incoming freshman at Borough of Manhattan Community College, waitress at Camaradas in El Barrio, future doctor of psychology and social worker, remembered fondly that each SugaRush show was hilarious and she could identify with certain comedic acts.
As for Casado, Vega said, “she brings some good people and artists.”
 Artist Wanda Raimundi Ortiz, who runs a Karaoke night on the first Wednesday of each month at the Bruckner Bar and Grill, called Casado “determined and driven” in her passion for stage performance.
“She’s a visionary,” said Ortiz. “It’s not that a comedy show is new but she’s trying, in a sense, to re-invigorate the variety show.”
Being a comedian is not only a mission but is also a way for Casado to do missionary work, or helping others who are in need.
“She’s full of the kind of energy every woman should have,” said comedian and filmmaker Arnold Acevedo who filmed Casado in his 15-minute short horror film “Looking for These?” “When something pops into her head, she gets it done.”
This year, Casado is running her second annual coat drive on Saturday November 7th in the Lower East Side at the Oxygen Lounge. Last year she collected over 50 coats and non-perishable food. With SugaRush, Casado uses this platform to “defend the vulnerable” she said. When given the opportunity to work on behalf of breast cancer awareness or suicide awareness projects, Casado is always there to lend her support and her good humor. She could possibly run a Latino Friar’s Roast one day.
“Cindy SugaRush is reinventing how we view entertainment….borrowing from a variety of sources,” said Ortiz, “turning back the clock to times when people watched Ed Sullivan or Sonny and Cher….you never really know what to expect when you go to a Sugarush show, that’s the rush.”
Besides running a pet sitting service, Casado reaches out to the disabled and the elderly. One day Casado hopes to work for the Saint Jude’s Children Fund. Yet still, it is the gift of laughter and comedy where Casado does the most good.
“One of the things that has helped me be successful in this industry is to have a focus,” said Casado. “No matter how much I hustle, things can not always be the way I want them to be but there’s always a promise of another tomorrow, of the sun rising tomorrow.”
Casado asks herself the prophetic question, “What would Jesus do if he were a stand-up comedian?”
This story was developed through the Education Beat Writing Fellowship at the New York Community Alliance. |
