Uncovered: A Brimmer Street Alumni Connection

By Jenna Clarke

Yesterday, I found myself putting together the rather daunting piles of files for the 2004-2005 Season and I came across a purple Emerson College binder in the middle of the folders. Turns out this binder contains headshots and resumes for that year’s BFA Acting and Musical Theatre classes.

After scrutinizing their resumes and headshots, as only a stage manager would, Matt and I decided to start Googling. We chose the most well-formatted resume in the stack – Ian Madeira, and searched his name to see if he’s up to anything interesting.

A few links down, Matt found something that looked to be Emerson-related. It was a link to the Brimmer Street Theatre Company – “Hey! Brimmer Street Theatre! That’s an old Emerson space! Let’s check that out!” Not Emerson’s space we found, but a Los Angeles based theatre company.

Come to find out that the Brimmer Street Theatre Company is a non-profit Los Angeles based theatre company that members of the 04-05 class started after they graduated. (Named after the Emerson Brimmer Street Theatre property, presumably.) Further searching about them, we find that they are still going strong! As of 20 hours prior to our searching, their Facebook page updated that they had just received their first public grant from Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

Names I’ve been running across in archive files from various years were all over the Brimmer Street website and Facebook page – from the staff and company members to just people liking and commenting on posts. When I come across things like this, it assures me that I’m in the right place. It’s wonderful to know I’m part of such a strong theatre community that keeps that tight knit network even beyond Boston.

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Follow our Uncovered series as we continue to explore our archives.