BRENDA LILLIE (Photo: Brenda Lillie, 2nd from left, in Nunsense)
At 6 years old Brenda Lillie was part of a family show and knew from that moment on that theatre was “in her blood.” Throughout her years at Winchendon Memorial School and Murdock Middle/High School she sought out every opportunity to perform – in chorus, band, and of course, on stage. The highlight of her high school career was playing the role of Winifred in Once Upon a Mattress (a role recently played on Broadway by Sarah Jessica Parker).
There was no doubt that her college plans would center on theatre and Brenda enrolled at Emerson College in Boston with a double major in Musical Theatre Performance and TV Production. At Emerson she was in the cast of George M! that was the opening performance of Boston’s Majestic Theatre. She also played the role of Jack’s Mother in Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods and had the privilege of performing with the playwright James Lapine in the audience.
Brenda was a “regular” at Theatre at the Mount in the late 1980’s to the mid 1990’s appearing on stage in Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1987), The Mikado (1988) and as Sister Hubert in Nunsense (1993). She also directed the 1995 production of Bye Bye Birdie and the 1996 production of I Do! I Do! and was on staff of Theatre at the Mount’s Summer Drama Camp.
The road called to Brenda and she accepted a job asCurrently, Brenda is Production
Stage Manager for Shakespeare
Theatre of New Jersey Production Stage Manager for the National Tour of TheatreWorks USA’s production of the children’s show Goldilocks and the Three Bears. For 9 months she traveled from New York to California performing in 88 cities and 47 states. TheatreWorks USA is America’s largest theatre for young and family audiences.
Brenda returned to New England and worked for 3 seasons as Production Stage Manager for Worcester’s Foothills Theatre. She then moved on to fill the same position at Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, Massachusetts in the Berkshires where she remained for 6 years. Shakespeare and Company has received critical acclaim for its performances of the Bard and beyond. It was during this time that Brenda’s passion for musical theatre shifted to a love of classical theatre and her career since then has reflected that love.
In the fall of 2003 Brenda managed the New York book launch for author Tina Packer’s Tales From Shakespeare. Published by Scholastic Press, the book takes 10 of Shakespeare’s best known works and re-tells them in a format accessible for seven to ten year olds and with exquisite illustrations. Tina Packer is the founder of Shakespeare and Company.
Currently, Brenda is Production Stage Manager for Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey where she has worked on Noel Coward’s Hay Fever and more recently on John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, hailed by Variety as “perfectly wonderful!” Her next undertaking will be a new musical called Illyria based on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.
When Brenda played Sister Hubert in Nunsense, her character claimed to be “second in command.” Her career as a Production Stage Manager places Brenda Lillie “first in command” backstage and her skills and experience guarantee a successful future in the professional theater.