We sat down with Brietta Goodman, a Season 45 Resident Actor, to hear her express how the power of live theatre has impacted her life as a human and an artist. Read on below:
I always enjoyed the performing arts as a child. It was a way for me to express myself freely as a person and as an artist. And with being the last of 8 siblings, it was my calling to be the artsy one. My first encounter with live theatre was seeing Phantom of the Opera at The Orpheum in Memphis, TN–needless to say, it was beautiful! That was the start of a tiny seed that sprouted my love for theatrics. I was a choir kid from middle school to college. Starting off, I participated in show choirs and several other ensembles throughout high school and college. My first love was music, and while it is still a big part of my life, overtime that love grew into live theatre. Aside from choir, my high school’s drama club was the most comfortable place where I felt safe and a sense of community with my peers.
I did not pursue theatre until my second semester of freshman year in college when my professor, Sadie Shannon, said she wanted to take me to a musical theatre competition but that I had to be a theatre major in order to go. So, I changed my major from General Studies/Hospitality to Theatre. Being cast in my first musical that semester, Calvin Berger, was my first experience acting onstage, and I loved it. I enjoyed coming up with backstories for the characters and collaborating with so many talented people on and offstage. I was able to travel to New York for a week to participate in a week-long Broadway Intensive Bootcamp, which was the most eye-opening week of my college career. During that week, I realized that theatre was what I wanted to do with my life, and I’ve never felt more passionate about creating and performing live theatre than in that week.
My love has only grown for all the wonderful elements at work on and offstage that make live theatre so amazing. To me, live theatre means community, passion, and outreach. Everyone involved is so driven and dedicated to creating one final cohesive beauty of a production that the audience witnesses. It gives me more awareness about myself and about others that I haven’t been able to find anywhere else. Live theatre doesn’t have a barrier–it can reach and affect everyone in it and those who watch it. I am so grateful to be able to create and perform art with such a beautiful community here at Charleston Stage.
Brietta (she/her/hers) is ecstatic to be a Resident Actor with Charleston Stage this season! Originally from Horn Lake, Mississippi, she received an A.A. in Theatre from Northwest Mississippi Community College with credits including: Polly Benish in Play On!, Aida in Aida, and Ellen Van Oss in Two Rooms. Recently a graduate from University of Southern Mississippi with a B.A. in Theatre with credits including: Cathy Haitt in The Last Five Years, Bunny in Detroit ’67, and Lucy Grant in Bright Star. While at USM, she was an Irene Ryan Finalist and was awarded First Place in the Musical Theatre Initiative Region IV Competition. She is so grateful for this opportunity and the support she has received from her friends and family going on this new journey! Stay Connected: https://briettagoodman99.wixsite.com/actor-performer