I first met Becky Brownson in 2011 when I was cast in The Sound of Music at West Valley Light Opera. Becky directed, and she had a patient and firm guiding hand, leading the cast – including double ranks of Von Trapp Family child actors – through a lovely production. It takes a special person to successfully direct children, and Becky was always special.
After that, I was fortunate to work on many productions with Becky over the past 15 years, both at South Bay Musical Theatre and with other groups in the area. She had many more years of experience in local community theatre than I – after all, she starred as the sexy ingenue Daisy Mae in SBMT’s 1981 production of Lil’ Abner and was one of the three “Sing for Your Supper” maidens in The Boys from Syracuse in 1984 – but she was always humble and welcoming to anyone she met in a show. I remember laughing with her stage right as we rehearsed sorting huge brown-paper ‘tobacco leaves’ for SBMT’s Finian’s Rainbow (2012) that sometimes flew offstage onto the orchestra. I remember laughing again with her during rehearsals of Tabard Theatre’s all-female 1776 (2014) as she navigated the stage with a rifle prop nearly as tall as she was in her part as the irascible Scot, Thomas McKean of Delaware. We all created a sisterhood of the 1776-chicks, whom Becky later welcomed into her home for reunions or tea.
That was Becky in a nutshell: someone who supported her fellow performers and those backstage as well. She understood the importance of those behind the scenes, both as a director, stagehand, and set painter herself, but also since husband Don is a frequent pit trombone player, and daughter Ellie often crewed for SBMT or WVLO behind the scenes. She even met Don through theatre, when they both worked on a locally-written musical, Time and Again, at Sunnyvale Community Players in 1986.
I’m sure Becky’s wish to keep our theatre community together, even when the pandemic canceled live performances, led to her volunteering to manage the “Thursday Night Theatre” Zoom play readings that Sara Dean kicked off through SBMT in 2020. The readings took on a life of their own with all of us who missed the live stage – including friends who phoned in from across the country, and a few SBMT audience members who joined in as well. To continue the weekly Zoom productions through 2020 and into 2021, Becky spent hours searching online for plays we could read together, especially those with multiple parts so there were roles for everyone. She’d assign all volunteers one or two roles, often splitting the roles between Act I and Act II so we would all have a turn emoting for our home cameras, in front of our green screens and digital backgrounds. We all worked hard to come up with appropriate costumes and scenery, Becky along with the rest of us.
Barbara Heninger shows off the stuffed aardvark Becky gifted her as her “Secret Star” during SBMT’s Big River, 2019.
I’ll never forget Becky performing from a chair at her dining table, wearing a white hoodie and a clear plastic salad bowl with strips of blue painter’s tape inverted over her head as R2D2 in a Zoom reading of the Shakespeare-inspired The Empire Striketh Back. That was a costume for the ages!
And of course, that was Becky too. Self-deprecating, humorous, willing to make herself the butt of a gentle joke for all of us to enjoy. When her knees bothered her and she walked with a cane, she’d joke “here comes the old lady!” When she suffered a hernia, she gave it a name, “Herman.” And yet even then, for as long as she could, she would show up to see friends’ productions in community theaters all over the Bay Area. A hug from Becky after a show was often the icing on the cake for those of us who met her after a performance (even when we were simply fellow audience members saying hello!).
The local community theatre world lost a feisty, warm, humorous star this week. But I am glad that we were all able to call Becky our friend. With love to Don, Ellie, and Tommy, and a “We Can Do It!” fist pump to Becky’s indomitable spirit.
—by Barbara Heninger, SBMT Historian
Highlights of Becky’s theatrical appearances
Pictured below are just a few of Becky’s many noteworthy productions. Background image: Finian’s Rainbow (2012). Lower left: While backstage at the Tabard Theatre for their all-female 1776, Christy Wait, Norma Hughes, and Becky recreate their “Sing for Your Supper” pose from SBMT’s The Boys From Syracuse (1984). Upper right: Becky’s first SDG/SBMT production, as Daisy Mae, in Li’l Abner (1981). Lower right: As Mrs. Potts in Beauty and The Beast (2007).
Perhaps no photo says more about Becky than the video “Love Note” she recorded to help sustain SBMT during the pandemic. We love you, too, Becky. Thanks for the memories.
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