Producer

Director

Executive Director

Two Marion High School educators made a profound impact on Brett Harwood’s life and career in the performing arts. Bertha O’Dell Bir was the acting teacher, the sponsor for the Drama Club “Stage and Stammer” and the coach of the competitive speech team who instilled the love of the theater and the importance of dedication to one’s craft. F. Ritchie Walton also had a very important impact, introducing Brett to musical theater, which would become the focus of his entire career. After graduating from Marion High School, Brett attended Ball State University as well as Indiana University, where he was selected to direct Union Board productions of the musicals Evita and Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. As a performer, he has appeared in dozens of musicals, concerts, and galas around the world, making his New York debut with Indiana University’s Singing Hoosiers and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in 1996. Brett works with Child and Youth Services at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in Belgium. Prior to his arrival in Belgium, he served as the Resident Director (Spielleiter) of the Kammeroper Koeln in Cologne, Germany. Before this time in Germany, Brett was the Managing/Artistic Director of Army Community Theater on the Island of Oahu in Hawaii (housed in the historic Richardson Theater). While serving on Oahu, he was a six-time winner of the coveted Hawaii State Theater Council’s Po’Okela Award for Outstanding Achievement in Direction of a Musical. Additionally, his scenic design for Threepenny Opera (featured at the International Brecht Society Symposium in Honolulu) won a Po’Okela for Best Scenic Design of a Musical. Preceding his move to Hawaii, Brett was the Artistic Director of the Stuttgart Theater Center in Stuttgart, Germany. During his time in Stuttgart, Brett produced/directed/choreographed dozens of musicals, including European premieres of Triumph of Love and Urinetown, both productions winning him awards for Best Director of a Musical at the US Army European Tournament of Plays. Additionally, Brett was a participant in the Harold Prince Musical Symposium at the Gesellschaft fuer Unterhaltende Buehnenkunst, Berlin.