2012 Rex Rabold Recipient - Brittany Brook

Raybold Ready

Fellowship recipient Brittany Brook aims to 'pick the brains of the professionals'

Brittany Brook said she regards her plans this January as something like graduate school - only one not many students have the opportunity to attend.

Her classmates aren’t students but some 300 professionals in performance, directing, design and technology.

And Brook’s days won’t be spent at a desk or even behind the scenes. She’ll be too busy performing up to eight shows a week as part of the ensemble in Romeo and Juliet and supporting as understudy for "Juliet," "Cressida" and "Miranda" in Troilus and Cressida, a cheerleader in The Very Merry Wives of Windsor, Iowa, and "Spring Grace" in As You Like It.

The spring 2011 UI graduate was named the 2012 Rex Rabold Fellowship recipient by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Ore. Her fellowship begins in January and will last until November.

The spring 2011 UI graduate said one of her main goals is to “pick the brains of the professionals.”

“And I intend to take notes ceaselessly,” she said.

Brook is the 20th University of Idaho student to be selected as a fellowship recipient since the award was created in 1993. Rex Rabold graduated from the UI in 1976 with a Master of Arts and went on to work nine years at OSF. When he died in 1990, UI Faculty Emeritus Forrest Sears worked with OSF to get the fellowship established in Rabold’s honor. The UI is the only university in the world that has this kind of connection with the Tony Award-winning festival.

“Having OSF on my resume, as well as the countless connections and relationships that I hope to gain, will be invaluable to my future endeavors,” Brook said. “There is never any telling exactly how, but the name of OSF brings with it a deep reverence, and I have no doubt that it will advance me in auditions and the search for work. For all of this, in its vast entirety, I am very, very thankful.”

The festival runs 12-13 shows in repertory for 10 months. Brook also will receive a weekly salary and housing, circumstances the young actor said she regards as rare.

Her days will be spent rehearsing a show in the morning and performing another in the evening or vice versa. She said she also hopes to relish in the "blessing of being an actor" and to cut down on the stresses she normally places on herself. However, she said she will be attending the numerous workshops and audition opportunities OSF offers their company.

"It may sound like work, but that is (my) idea of a blast," she said.

While at UI, Brook said she always was fortunate enough to have summer work lined up between semesters. Following her freshman year, she worked in the ensemble of the Bigfork Summer Playhouse. She also worked for the Idaho Repertory Theatre in 2010, performing in The Dining Room and As You Like It.