"It's the groups that make it work. . . People who are excited about writing and theatre - people who want to act, to write, to be an audience, to form a community of writers. That's what I’m heading toward." The speaker is Lee Brady, and the subject is theatre in the widest sense of the term. From her days as an undergraduate at MPC to her present life as playwright and teacher, she has had an enthusiasm that reaches out and takes hold of those she meets, teaches and inspires.

Currently, Lee offers two popular local theatre classes, one held on the MPC campus and called "Writing for the Theatre," the other a Readers Theatre course held at the Carmel Foundation. And all of this while working as a San Francisco Bay Area theatre critic and writing play scripts of her own that gain production and win prizes from Kansas to Puerto Rico.

Surprise Birthday Party for Lee - 2004

"I do reviews for the the Pacific Sun - it's a Marin paper, but we cover theatre all around the Bay. That gets me really involved in San Francisco. But at heart I'm still a Monterey Peninsula local, and coming down to teach means I see all the theatre on the Monterey Peninsula as well."

Describing her "Writing for the Theatre" course, Lee talks excitedly - about excitement. "From Day One, I want students to develop a love of writing - theatre writing, yes, or writing in any medium that excites them. I want them to know the fun of writing - which is what it is when it works!" The very "fun" of a Brady class (and I speak from personal experience) has sometimes offered a challenge and even a bit of frustration for Lee. "Just because it is fun, some students tend to say, 'Well, yes, I’m really enjoying this - but algebra is a curriculum requirement, so algebra's really important and this isn't' - and they slack off or drop out."

Does she think any literate person can be taught to write a play? "Oh, no! You're born with a talent for stage dialogue or you aren't.

Play Reading in the MPC Studio Theatre - 2005

You can develop and train it, but you need to have the knack. Dialogue is the key. If you can create characters who are real in the way they talk, you've got what it takes.

"Some people just aren't born to let go. A big part of playwriting is just that - letting go of your preconceived ideas of what people are like - and being willing to explore and discover what they are really like - and most particularly in what they have to say and how they say it."

“Writing for the Theatre” classes have produced some surprises. “On the first day of one class, I looked at a student and said, ‘You know, I must really be getting older. You look about thirteen years old to me.’ He replied, ‘That's because I am thirteen years old.’ The youthful student was Sean Hart, "and he turned out to be the most prolific, funniest young writer around. He's just graduated from UCLA in the film department.”

The theatre writing class customarily ends with two nights of performance in the MPC Studio Theatre. "We put the work up to local actors," Lee explains, "and they usually make it all sound wonderful. David Wynne, one of our former students, calls them the 'pull-it-through acting troupe.' That three days of getting actors familiar with the material, organizing a bit of lighting, playwrights frantically rewriting and cutting in response to the way the material shapes up with live performers - it’s all really wonderful.

"And we always have a full house in the Studio Theatre. Monterey Peninsula audiences are very supportive. They get this rush from just thinking, 'God knows what we’re going to see!' The event pulls together all the things about theatre which I love. . . even the incredible frustration and drive that go into getting a show up in three days. You learn from doing it that it's never going to be perfect - because live theatre is human beings, and it always happens - or doesn't happen - in front of a live audience."

Lee's other class, "Readers Theatre," harks back to the time when she and husband Charles were full-time residents of Pacific Grove. A friendship with Bea Siegel, who had started an older-adults educational program, produced a creative writing class at the Seaside Library and four other theatre-related classes around the Peninsula. The class met the needs of people who may have wanted to do a little acting but hadn't done anything in that line since high school or college.

An early Readers Theatre group in Seaside became a women's acting company which toured with plays based on the Bible and other traditional sources and was/is sponsored by Meals on Wheels. Another play reading group in Carmel blossomed into a troupe called Peninsula Players. "We toured retirement centers and churches with full-length plays - Noel Coward and that sort of thing - and not just readings. People learned lines and business. We performed and received minimal pay in 15 places. When I pulled up stakes and headed for San Francisco, the group went on for a while under Nick Zanides. Now we are starting all over again at the Carmel Foundation. We read plays, we go to plays, we talk-talk-talk theatre. Half the experience is getting together afterward and talking about it."

Each Readers Theatre session begins with a brief visit from a local theatre personality. "One of our most delightful visitors was Morgan Stock, who talked about the history of theatre on the Peninsula - and of course he's been right at the heart of that from way back. He even gave a little performance, which we don't ask or usually get from our guest stars, but that made it all the more fun. The aim is to keep up on theatre all over the Peninsula. We read plays similar in style or written by the same author as a play currently being done. I invite someone involved to talk about the production. Actors like MaryAnn Schaupp-Rousseau have come. . . Conrad Selvig is always interesting to hear talking about the new things he's doing at the Cherry Foundation . . . We've also had technical directors like Steve Retsky . . .and playwrights like Allston James. . . Barbara Rose Schuler came to talk about the what's involved in writing theatre criticism. And Dan Gotch from Pacific Rep has been wonderful. The guests stay for about fifteen or twenty minutes - Morgan stayed an hour, and that was wonderful.

"But maybe the happiest element of all is watching and hearing people take on roles that are far removed from their everyday style or age group or viewpoint. Bob Beller did such a convincing job in our reading of THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN that when one of the class members spotted him later in the lobby of one of the local theatres, he said, 'Hey - here's Cripple Billy!' It was a real tribute to the way Bob had handled the part in class!

"So - if you're a theatre person but don't want the pressure and commitment of six weeks rehearsal and maybe four or five more of performance, this is the class for you. . . A little bit of acting every week, a stimulus to keep up on local theatre without the feeling that you are tying up your whole life for a big part of the year."

Readers Theatre starts Wednesday, February 16th and continues on Wednesdays from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm through March 23rd at the Carmel Foundation. Writing for Theatre will start on a Thursday early in September, usually slightly later than the opening of the MPC fall semester. It will continue for twelve weeks - 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm, and the final session is usually followed by two nights of performance in the MPC Studio Theatre.