Meet the faculty: Anna Marie Brendel joins Lee Theatre community

Photo from Brendel

Anna Marie Brendel, visiting lecturer in theatre, recently joined the Lee faculty, taking on the role of influencing students while working to combine faith and the arts to create something great. 

As a Lee alum, Brendel immediatly put her creativity on display as director of the first production of the spring semester, “Crossing Delancey.”

“She’s very intelligent, just really smart. She knows what she's doing and she’s got a lot of experience. Anna Marie knows how to speak eloquently, both to her students and her actors and she's a really genuine person,” said Lucas Branch, senior theatre major and cast member of “Crossing Delancey.”

Brendel perviously worked in the recruitment coordinator position for the School of Music. As a former theatre major and music minor, she has now come full circle after accepting her current position and rejoining the Lee theatre community while finishing her MFA in theatre pedagogy and dramaturgy at the University of Idaho.

“I've been in a full time staff capacity already for a while, so it's been great to move into this position already being a part of the Lee family knowing how campus life works,” Brendel said. “So I’m grateful to be able to ask questions and figure out how the faculty side of it works, as opposed to the staff side of things, while being able to focus on my teaching and my craft and coming from a more clerical administrative standpoint.”

Brendel hopes to create theatre in a way that can influence all audiences as she works to set an example to students by integrating faith into every production.

“I think first and foremost, we want to continue with the model and tradition of being a faith focused institution and lifting up the the stories and ideas that go along with with our Christian faith with a God minded focus. So being the same faith, I'm glad to be able to operate as an artist with colleagues who are like minded in that way, but who also wanted to make faith,” Brendel said.

Although Brendel has only recently taken the position of theatre educator, it’s taken students no time at all to gain respect and love for Brendel’s directing style. 

“She’s a fantastic director, she lets the actors do what they want to do,” said Kevin Collins, senior theatre major and cast member of “Crossing Delancey.” “She really gives us the freedom to kind of do what we feel, and then she'll correct us or give us some guidance if she feels we need it. But she's really an actor first kind of director where she lets us go with it along the way.”

Brendel has taken on her new role with excitement and she credits God with her success as she joins the faculty. 

“When this position came open and I felt God leading me back in this direction, it really seemed like this was a moment where I think my career and the will of God really aligned,” said Brendel. “And, you know, whether this is a long term thing or something that's just meant to be short term for this time in my life, it seems very much right and very much like a home thing.”

Theatre at Lee University continues to cultivate artists through classes and production opportunities. Students also credit the faculty with providing a warm atmosphere that encourages creativity.

“I say if you're interested in theater, and you feel like you don't belong just because you're not a theater major or something like that, just take one theater class, and you'll see that the people in this department are very caring. They care about inclusivity. and work to include people who are different from them. Because in theater, you will always find somebody who you can really relate with,” Branch said.

With the curtain now closed on her first production as a faculty director, Brendel hopes to continue providing opportunities to guide students in their college career and give them a home in Lee University theatre.

“I am just looking forward to watching the students grow and flourish. I know that there are some whose time is running out now. You know, they're getting ready to graduate and some of whom I might be able to watch grow and develop over the next year or so. But just especially now that we're post-COVID, we're trying to gain some momentum coming out of this little recession and just watching how positive growth can impact our department and impact our university,” Brendel said.

Lee Theatre’s next production is “Jack’s Tale,” opening Friday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m. Saturday shows will be at 3 and 7:30 p.m. on March 25. For Lee Day weekend, shows will be Friday, March 31 at 7:30 p.m. and Friday, March 31 at 7 p.m., as part of the 7@7 event. Saturday shows on April 1 will be at 2 and 7:30 p.m.