I've
heard it said that you shouldn't be in the music or theatre business
unless you can't imagine doing anything else. That's part of why
I do what I do. That is also why I love to teach children and adults
to be better performers.
I started taking piano lessons when I was seven
years old, but my interest and aptitude in music began at a very
young age. When I was a toddler I picked up songs very quickly,
(once informing my mother that she was singing out of tune). Probably
the first song I learned on my own was a cigarette commercial from
television.
I moved to New York City
in 2002 from Portland, Oregon, where I had been working as a music
director, accompanist, vocal coach, composer and arranger since
1986. I also have numerous credits as an actor, singer and dancer.
Professional theatre credits (music direction, composition, sound
design or acting) include:
Off Broadway: Big Apple Circus, American Girls Revue, Assistant Music Director.
Off-Off-Broadway: Chess,
The Full Monty, Bachelorette, 4Play, Nunsense, Torch Song Trilogy,
Urinetown, and Puck’d (a
punk rock adaptation of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s
Dream – for which I co-composed the music with Billy Atwell).
I have been rockin’ since fourth grade, when
I kept my classmates in for recess to start our own rock band. The
rock band thing was actually successful in ninth grade when I put
together an all-girl band for a variety show in high school called
the “Billion Dollar Babies”. Our one song, “Born
to Be Wild” was learned from a book, and our faces were painted
like the members of KISS.
I attended Lewis
and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, studying piano, clarinet,
Javanese Gamelan, voice,
conducting, acting, and dance. I received a BA from CUNY
Hunter College in 2009 in Music with a minor in Theater, also
studying French Language, modern French civilization and French
women's literature. I recently wrote and performed in my second
one-woman show, “Hebomia: Will the real Brenna please stand
up?” after receiving a grant from the Performing Arts Fund
at Hunter College. I am currently researching and writing a musical
about 18th century French playwright and political activist Olympe
de Gouges.
