Everything's Coming Up Bre Jackson!

Written By: Chelsea & Cynthia 

Featuring: Bre Jackson 

Bre, Chelsea and Cynthia all go way back. 

It all began when Chelsea and Bre met as college freshmen at the University of Michigan, where Cynthia would be their professor. 

Bre and her talent stood out even back then. Fun fact: she started college at the age of 16(!!). But it wasn't just her age that made her college audition stand out as one of Cynthia's all-time favorites. Instead, it was because of how un-polished and un-trained her audition performance was - it was obvious that Bre really didn't yet have a grasp of the musical theatre world - but yet she was standing there as a raw vessel of talent and they just had to take a chance on her. 

She is proof that you don't need years and years of expert training, classes, and experience to get started in this industry.

Among Bre's many credits, she's most recently performed as Catherine of Aragon in the Broadway production of SIX.

We are so excited to welcome Bre into our community for this blog post anddiscuss mental health, self-care, and managing the in-between-jobs periods as an actor with over a decade in the business. Let's get started! 

Q: You found yourself in this quite prestigious musical theater program, but had you had much musical theater performance experience before then? 

A: Young Bre was into just music. She grew up singing in gospel choirs, listening to R&B, and a lot of soul. My dad also loved funk music and so there was a lot of funk as well. And then my stepfather introduced me to pop music, and then as I got older, it was just whatever I could listen to.

I didn't start singing classical music or even was really exposed to it as an art form until I was in high school, which was when I performed in my first musical. And even then I wasn't sure if I wanted to do that. My first play was Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors, back at age 12 and I loved it.

But then I performed in the musical, The Music Man, and I just wasn't sold. I really do think if I had gone just by what my interests were, I would've only done singing and then possibly gone into acting, but it never would've been the both of them together, until I had to choose my junior year of high school when looking at University programs.

Q: Do you feel like having a childhood where you listened to all kinds of music and sang gospel, has helped and informed your career?

A: I always say that I was guided into musical theater. Like God was saying, "N o, you silly little lamb. This is where you're supposed to go. You just go this way." and made sure that I ended up on the right path. Because I just wanted to go and be a music star, and then eventually do movies and things like that, which is the through line. I always knew that if there was one thing that I had, it was that voice.

Getting to do musical theater has helped expand how I use my voice, and inform me that there's so much more that I can do besides singing a pop song that will make me popular. There's healing, there's a calling to it. There was a time when I was going to be a gospel singer and give it to the Lord and then I didn't know how I felt about people paying me and also giving it to the Lord - it felt like a different dichotomy.

So now I can minister to people through my art in doing these shows and musically. I can't sing the way I did in my gospel choir days to do musical theater. It informs the musicality, if I tried to raw throat it the way I used to, I wouldn't have made it this far in the industry. 

It took me getting to experience and train in musical theater to learn that there are different aspects of my voice, and to use my full physical body as a part of my artistry. I don't approach a pop show just as a contemporary piece, I look for the golden age material. I look for the actual art of writing for musical theater. What are the important themes? What are we talking about? Who is this character? How do I develop them from there? So it does help with my musicality, but there is a very different approach I would say to how my career goes even vocally.

Q: You've done so many different things - you've been a lead, an understudy, and television. What are some differences for you as a performer when you are either in the ensemble and an understudy versus a lead in a show?

A: What I'm realizing is that for me, there's no difference in my work ethic or level, or there shouldn't be, depending on where I am in the hierarchy of the show.

It becomes more about what is required of me to service the show and manage my ego. When you're in the ensemble, it's not about you standing out, but your ego says, "Well, let me just do the little razzle so somebody notices that I'm good". 

What I've learned is that doing that is just distracting, and it's just for you. How is that serving the storytelling and the grand scheme of what's going on? And sometimes you're doing that eight shows a week and that little razzle-dazzle that you're trying to do, that's energy that you need to save so that by show seven, you're not crawling and wheezing.

The visibility changes though when you're in the lead and that's the responsibility. The key is recognizing the "role" of your role, and humbling yourself to perform it in that way. 

Q: You are a huge advocate for mental health and wellness, and how does that play into how take care of yourself when you are a lead every vs. the ensemble but need to be ready to step into a lead? And how does that play in when you may have experienced disappointments? 

A: I mean, right now, I'm in the middle of the biggest disappointment, I'm not going to lie. It has shaken me to my core, as it's very hard to go from my dream job leading to struggling to pay my bills - at no fault of my own.

 But what I've been finding is that there's nothing else that I want to do, there's nothing else that I would rather spend the majority of my time and energy towards to make money. That means that this is my all.

So in between jobs, it means really having to struggle and figure out what is something that I can do to pay the bills that will not impact the workshop I have in two weeks and being committed to figuring that out.

My mindset about it was that I didn't come to New York City to do anything else, so if I start putting my energy or my focus into other things, then I'm not doing what I came here for. This city is too expensive and I don't like New York City itself enough for me to be here and not doing what I want to be doing. Every decision has to be towards making sure that this is still possible, and that's why we're still here. 

 Sccess and failure do become different things. It is so bittersweet that I'm not on that stage at Six, but I will say the success is that I went in there, I did a hell of a job and nobody can take that away from me. I've gotten the credit, but I know what I put out there, and now I'm no longer stressed out every single day I walk into work.

I decided that my next success will be doing a job that I enjoy, which I was able to do in these last two weeks at a workshop. Every day I got to work on my artistry and enjoy doing it, and that's a success for me.

Q: You've had some incredible success in terms of big, big credits. When you've achieved these points in your life, was it what you expected it to be and how was it not? 

A: I found that the most fulfilling moments weren't the ones that we capture on television, like walking the red carpet or being at the award show, it was actually the quiet moments where it was like, "Oh, wait a minute, this is actually happening"/

Like for me, it was my first fitting for The Book Of Mormon on Broadway. I was going to be their second female swing, but their first female onstage swing, so they actually had to design a whole new costume for me. So I actually got to be in the room with Ann Roth and I will never forget her pinning fabric everywhere and ripping off sections and stopping to study her work on me. 

And I'm just trying to stand still trying not to grin like Little Orphan Annie, but also having my full-blown, "Oh my God, this is happening" moment. Every time I get to do costuming and final fittings, I get to see that it's real, nobody can take it back now. I'm gonna be on Broadway, Mom.

And then the first time in full costume on stage and everybody walks out, that's a moment where there's usually a lot of laughing because we're all just like at the peak of excitement, anxiety, and joy because it's real now.

Those are my favorite moments when it comes to Broadway, those are my Broadway roses. The thorns are how much work the big moments are to get there. The grind of getting to opening night is the hardest part, the rehearsal time is brutal. You're running a gauntlet because it means so much to you, everybody has so much of a stake in it. There's the fear and the hope. Like do they like it? We love it. We think it's great, but will the audience think it's great?

Q: It's true, Broadway feels like this eternal thing, but the jobs come and go. How do you find peace with the transitional nature of this career? Or is peace even the goal? 

A: Peace is the goal. I've always said that one of my biggest rules is if you don't love it anymore, get out. I know that I still need to stay in the game because I still love it. But the transitional nature is a very difficult thing.

I'm someone who likes consistency. I have certain areas where things can be chaotic, but my job is not one of them. That being said, I'm learning peace and part of that is learning the different metrics of success and failure. It's planning life differently.

It also helps to have support and to know that you have a community. That's something that I've always struggled with, but I've been leaning on community pretty heavily in the last few weeks. I've been able to reach out to some people and just lay it out there.

It's also learning to be resourceful and learning about the different aspects of yourself. I've met a different Bre that I forgot I still had in the moments when I've been in between the big jobs. My partner recently said, "You're in shark mode right now. It's not that you were never a shark, but you just lost your hunger. Now you're back on the hunt"

I handle things differently now. I stack things differently in my calendar. I recently finished a workshop and then within 10 minutes of us curtaining, I was on the train on my way back home because we had a three-hour drive to my next gig. Whereas if I'm on Broadway, it's like always, "Yeah, that's lovely and I would love to do that, but no". 

 I can't see myself doing anything else right now, and sometimes it's a sad thought and other times it's clear, this is where I'm supposed to be.

Q: If your younger self knew the reality of being a musical theater professional on Broadway, would you still choose to do this?

A: Parent and wise me would say no, absolutely not. I'd probably say take your behind back and go to school and become a doctor. You're gonna love it and you'll get over it.

But really, the only thing I would want to tell young me is that it's all going to be okay. Even in those times when you're questioning everything, it's going to be okay. Because the next time you do a project where you believe in it, it'll be worth it. When your soul is singing along with the orchestra, it's going to be worth it.

When you see that little girl in the front row with stars in her eyes, it's going to be worth it.

Q: How do you feel like this very unique career path has changed you or, or helped you grow?

A: Well with nine years on Broadway, 11 years as a career, the easy thing to say is that I grew up. I had to grow up from a 16-year-old me to where I am now, both as an artist, but mainly as a person. And I would say that because of the unique challenges of being an artist, you have to learn about yourself and how to take care of you.

You have to make it a choice to love yourself real hard. If you didn't have that going in, you're going have to learn it while you're in there to stay in. I think that that's what this has taught me the most. I'll be honest, I started therapy not because I was not okay with myself, but because I noticed that I couldn't tap into certain emotions on stage. I couldn't act and I knew something was clearly something wrong if I couldn't do my job. In a way, that saved my life because now I'm making sure I take care of my mental health.

I am very strong on my boundaries now and how it impacts my work. Having to be an artist and needing to deal with my emotions and portray the whole human range of life has made me have to like really look at myself and how I'm living life.

It's also taught me to have more compassion for and be curious about humans. I always joke and say I don't like humans, and it's true. But I am equally fascinated by us. We are such weird, complex, divine, and fascinating entities. What a cool thing that I get to be any sort of a human being as a part of my job. I get to take a dip into somebody else's life. It makes me more aware of my own humanness and how I move in the world. It makes me just want to see the world and be curious about what's going on.

We were created in love. Now what's different about you and what can I learn? If we just led with love and curiosity, there's so much more that we could learn and be. I think being an artist has made me curious because that's something else I can file away and be at some other point.

Q: As a black woman in this industry, we've seen a lot of things shifting or talked about shifting in the last few years. How you have been experiencing that,  and where do you see us headed from here? 

A: This sounds really sad, but I'm not very encouraged by our direction. I think we've turned towards performative as opposed to lasting change. But time will only tell. There has been a lot of conversation, and conversation is always a great place to start.

A friend of mine and I were griping about this a few days ago, and I said, at some point I need you to just do what is asked for, not what you think is being asked. If a plan is literally laid out for you to rectify and make actual change, do that. Not what you think is what is asked for. 

I will say that it is sometimes tiresome because there's a lot of discussions, which is great, but it usually turns someone sharing their experience, and it becomes more so about trying to thread a line as opposed to having the conversation. They just need you to hear it out, don't react. And now here's a solution, here's how we can do better. And I think a lot of times we just stop at the, "Let's have a conversation".

That's what's been happening with Broadway and that's discouraging, to say the least. The most disappointing part though is that we as artists say that we are better and that we're the ones who want to lead. But we don't live it. I think there needs to be a reckoning that is past what is done on social media. It's not how many masses you can get for a good march, and then it fades into Instagram memories until the next year.

What I would like to see is that we change how we actually use and move our money around. I would like to actually a concrete change within our union to actually take steps toward protecting all artists. Or when someone is called out about something, it doesn't become an Instagram and Twitter back and forth, and then op-eds in the New York Times. I would like to see not everyone using the exact same language to apologize for making a misstep, where I can predict exactly what's going to happen every time.

I think that the biggest thing that we need to work on in Broadway is that we say that we're not the same story, but it's like, no, we're every Golden Age musical all over again, just wrapped up with a different name. I would like to not know the end of the story.

If you're interested in diving deeper into this interview or exploring other interesting musical theatre conversations - check out the Broadway Vocal Coach podcast! Or check us out on Instagram, and get involved in the conversation! 

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