Today we’d like to introduce you to Renea Brown.
Hi Renea, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’m from Lexington, Kentucky, and as I child, I would watch the same movies over and over, so I could perform them for my family, or when we went on long roadtrips. My parents told me I could be like the people in the movies, and that there was a school that would teach me how to be an actor. There was a performing arts school in my city, I auditioned for it, got in and went to that school from fourth grade, until I graduated high school.
After that I studied theatre at the University of Louisville, toured after and then moved to DC.
Thats when I got into a big market and wanted to focus on Shakespeare. I went to The Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy of Classical Acting, for my MFA, and I’ve been working ever since.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
With the world we’re living in now, it’s hard for me to call what I’ve gone through struggles, but there have been challenges that I’ve learned to deal with and eliminate.
Early on I was worried about people liking me and fitting into a new city, but that gets old after a while. There’s only so long I can bear trying to pretend to be someone I’m not, just to be liked.
Of course theres also the basics: rejection, dealing with ignorance when it comes to race—I spent a lot of my time being “the only one” in a room, a show, etc, but what I refuse to hide is my gift. My talent, my specificity, my flavor, it light, it cannot go unnoticed, and I’ve learned not to stay hidden, if that makes sense.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m an Actor. I specialize in Classical work, more specifically Shakespeare, but I have also moved into contemporary work. I also do TV and Film.
I don’t know what I’m most known for..maybe my dimples? Perhaps my work at Round House Theatre, where I’ve performed the most, and probably for winning 3 individual Helen Hayes Awards for Acting, consecutively, which has never been done.
I think I’m most proud when I’m performing for people who have never stepped foot in a theatre: I’m proud to be apart of, what I hope, is an experience that stays with them, makes them do some sort of action: call a friend and apologize, write a letter, change an opinion, as a question. Its a responsibility I don’t take lightly and I won’t know if there is someone who is at a play for the first time until the show is over, so every show is a responsibility.
I would also say I’m most proud of my most recent show Sally and Tom at Round House Theatre. On the day of my first preview, I was informed that our female lead had to leave the show and I agreed to step into that track. I wasn’t just playing a supporting character, I wasn’t understudying anything, so it was a huge undertaking. I was so surprised at how quickly things came to me, because its a long and complex script, but this energy just surged through me for the next 3 days and I was just high off the challenge. We took 3 days to rehearse, 2 days to preview, and then we opened. It was the most incredible night I’ve experienced on stage and in a theatre.
What sets me apart from others? I suppose just being me. I know thats cliche, but it’s true—no one has lived my life the way I have, therefore no one can do tragedy like me. No one has had my particular experience of being denied, embarrassed, and shamed from doing shakespeare, so no one can perform it rebelliously like me. No one knows what I ask of my ancestors when I step on a stage, so no one can exist on stage the way I do. Thats what sets me apart.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I’m not quite sure where I see the theatre going in the next 5-10 years. AI is on the move, and I wonder if people will be yearning for an experience where they are watching real people, in real time, surround by real people, and thats the theatre…or church. Maybe we’ll see a big shift in the change of leadership, what artists will demand and what they will and will not tolerate. Pay, work life balance, respect, all of that.
I also wonder if we will see a sort of blend to keep people invested in live performance. Will the theatre have to lean into AI use to keep the attention spans of the new generation, does that increase ticket price or not.
I’m not quite sure, but my hope is that it continues to expand in its effects, affects, audience growth, and storytelling styles.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.reneabrown.com
- Instagram: @therealdarklady
- Other: @therealdarklady (tiktok)
