Brenny Rabine

If you looked at a biography of Brenny Rabine, you would walk away with one of two distinct conclusions. One take sounds like, “Brenny Rabine has never NOT been an actor.” The other sounds like, “Wow, Brenny Rabine sure tried hard not to be an actor.” Neither is completely true, and both sound like a real actor’s life.

In the first version, Brenny discovered her swan family at age 10. Raised by a loving duck family, Brenny felt out of place and misunderstood, like the brooding little cygnet she was—and as pretentious as that last sentence, probably. One day, she was auditioning for her elementary school play, an adaptation of Rumplestiltskin, and was asked to improvise* the moment when the miller’s daughter finds herself trapped with piles of straw and a spinning wheel. Brenny looked around the cafetorium, convinced by her imagination that she was doomed, and burst into tears. Spoiler alert: Melody Brody got the role, but Brenny did steal the show as the ditzy queen, a role written for her by the third grade teacher directing. That elementary school director opened all possible community theatre doors for Brenny, who never played a single sport at school, because she was always rehearsing something, somewhere. [Fill in delightful timeline of college theatre, non-pro gigs, up through Equity membership and professional theatre, TV, film right up to today…voila!]

In the other version, Brenny got a Master’s Degree in English Composition. She wrote and produced theatre, sure, but also taught secondary English, was adjunct faculty and guest lecturer at a handful of colleges, and was published in The Sun, English Journal, and a few earnest but forgettable magazines. She’s traveled the world as a corporate trainer, facilitator, and executive coach. She wrote the curriculum and variances for accreditation for New Visions Theatre Arts for high-achieving high school seniors. Over the years, she’s designed and facilitated programs for clients in the fields of professional services; energy, manufacturing, and construction; banking and finance; technology; law; pharma; public relations and marketing; and health and human services. Please. What “actor” does all that? Is she serious? She can say, however, that she’s the only one of her professional colleagues who’s spent any time handcuffed in the back of a meat wagon with all the super villains of Gotham.

So, about Brenny Rabine? She’s an actor like so many working professionals: an eager, committed, curious traveler on a circuitous path. Every step, in any wayward direction, leads her directly back to herself and back into rehearsal.



*Improv—a gift to her from her mentor and friend, the illustrious Kat Koppett, and from her training family at Performance of a Lifetime—changed Brenny’s life. Really. Buy her a gin and tonic, and listen as she regales you.