Lisa Brescia is an incredibly gifted actor/singer/teacher who has amassed an incredible wealth of knowledge about the entertainment industry with her experience on and off Broadway. Her resume is certainly impressive but that isn’t what impacted me most about Lisa. It was her heart. It was her willingness to show up and be incredibly honest about her experiences as an artist that had me thinking about our conversation for days.
Lisa and I were connected by a mutual friend and had only spoken one other time before our interview, so I thought she might be somewhat guarded over a Skype interview with someone she had only spoken with briefly. It became apparent to me within the first few minutes that Lisa is someone who allows people to really see her exactly how she is and in doing so, it allows people to unravel in front of her and create a space for authentic conversation with plenty of room to explore new ideas and be honest about their experiences.
Lisa’s journey as an artist reminds us all that there is always room for growth and that even when you don’t feel you have done your best work, you are still deserving of love and acceptance. We are not our Mistakes.
In this episode, we discuss why she has always taken classes while she is in a production, what she notices her students doing consistently, that if they were to stop doing, it would accelerate and shift their skills as an actor, and what she recommends to do when you are feeling stuck.
Lisa Brescia: We Are Not Our Mistakes
A little about Lisa:
On Broadway, Lisa has starred as Donna Sheridan in Mamma Mia!, Elphaba in Wicked, Cleo in Twyla Tharp’s The Times They Are A-Changin’, Amneris in Aida, and Marion Halcolmbe in The Woman in White. Additional New York credits include the role of Helena in All’s Well That Ends Well at the Public Theater’s Shakespeare Lab and Claire in Roundabout’s Ordinary Days. Regional credits include Tatiana Racon in the world premiere of Ken Ludwig’s A Comedy of Tenors (McCarter/ Cleveland Play House), Hermione in The Winter’s Tale, Gertrude in Hamlet, Ivy in August: Osage County, Anna in Sister Play (The Magic Theatre), Victoria in Victor Victoria (Ogunquit Playhouse), Sally in Cabaret (PlayMakers), Kennedy Center’s Broadway: Three Generations – Side Show (Violet), Chicago’s Wicked (Elphaba), Into the Woods (Witch – PlayMakers), The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown (Mom – Orange County PAC), Evita (Eva), The Last 5 Years (Cathy), A Little Night Music (Petra – Goodspeed), and Brigadoon (Meg –
Goodspeed). Lisa has been teaching and coaching actors for several years, frequently leading Master Classes at universities, and as head teacher and founder of The Actor’s Playgroup in NYC. During the Spring 2016 semester, she was a Guest Faculty member at Stephens College School of Performing Arts where she also directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream.“ She currently is an Assistant Professor on the Acting Faculty at Missouri State University. Training: MFA in Classical Acting from ACA; American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
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