SARAH O'BRECHT
Actor. Director. Writer.
YouR MOM.
What’s new?
Why are all the d’Ysquiths dying?
Last fall, Sarah had the immense pleasure of performing in, as well as Assistant Choreographing and Dance Captaining Drayton Entertainment’s A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder alongside her mentor, the incredible Adam Cates. Photo by Cheryl Oudshoorn. Check out Drayton’s 2025 programming below!
2025 Cayle Chernin Award finalist
Alongside her Theatre Making Movement partner Stephanie Graham, Sarah was a finalist for the 2025 Cayle Chernin Awards in the Media Arts category. Congratulations to all of the finalists and winners! Looking forward to seeing all of these incredible projects and for continuing the work on our own. We are so excited to expand the horizons of our company and for the future of Canadian musical theatre! To learn more about Theatre Making Movement:
Photo by Andre Reiners
what, like it’s hard?
Sarah made her directorial debut this year. Well, two debuts! The first was on a new play called Fertility with Light Echo Theatre Company. The play had its World Premiere at Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton before touring to Factory Theatre in Toronto. The second was for musical theatre. Sarah directed Legally Blonde the Musical at Randolph College for the Performing Arts in Toronto, featuring the graduating class of 2025, pictured above in a photo by Dahlia Katz. Please stay tuned for updates on Sarah’s forthcoming directing work!
Aboot the Newfipino
Sarah is a Canadian actor, dancer and singer, eh, based in Toronto. She was born and raised on the East Coast of Canada in Saint John, New Brunswick, to a Newfie dad and Filipino mom. (Sarah is the palest half-Asian you will ever meet. Just ask her Lola.) She attended Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, Broadway Dance Center, American Theater Dance and CAP21 in New York City before graduating a Dean's Scholar from the University of New Brunswick with a BA Honours in English and French and a BEd. in Secondary Education.
When she graduated, she realized that she wasn't done with performing and moved to Toronto to pursue a career in musical theatre. Since then, she has played Belinda in Johnny Belinda for Smile Theatre and appeared in Guys and Dolls at the Segal Centre in Montreal, Chicago at Stage West Calgary (Mona, Roxie cover), and in the Charlottetown Festival in the Canadian classic Anne of Green Gables (Sarah's childhood dream. Seriously.), Alice Through the Looking Glass and as Ali in Mamma Mia! In 2017, she made her small screen debut on Good Witch for the Hallmark Channel and also made her voiceover debut, as the voice of Bell's Back to School campaign. In 2018, she appeared in Neptune Theatre’s production of Mamma Mia, where she understudied Donna and ended up playing the role 4 1/2 times. In the past year, she appeared in Jersey Boys at Stage West Calgary, returned to Neptune Theatre to play Belinda Blair in the hilarious farce Noises Off, and played Margaret Harding in Atlantic Repertory Company’s inaugural production of No Man is an Island, written by Thomas Hodd and directed by Natasha MacLellan. She also made her debut on the other side of the table this year, as the Assistant Director of Beauty and the Beast at the Globe Theatre in Regina! Last summer, she continued her creative work and was the Assistant Director/Choreographer of Lucy Maud and Anne with Smile Theatre. She had the thrill of a lifetime playing Maureen McTeer, Flora MacDonald, Allen Lawrence, Brian Mulroney and Stephen Harper (!!!!) in Michael Healey’s political satire 1979 at Theatre New Brunswick - her last live show before Covid.
For the past couple of years, Sarah has been mentored by the incredible Canadian actor and director Sheila McCarthy! As the final project for the mentorship, Sarah wrote and starred in a short film called Good With Her, directed by Sheila! Most recently, she played Gingersnap in Theatre New Brunswick’s All I Want For Christmas by Rebecca Northan and lent her voice to the hilarious new indie video game Lil’ Guardsman. Sarah is currently the Apprentice Artistic Director of The Musical Stage Company (2022-2024).
When she's not performing, Sarah can be found frantically writing emails and creating marketing for Theatre Making Movement, running after two toddlers, working on several writing projects for stage and screen, and audition coaching and teaching dance and acting to students of all ages. She is honoured (yes, honoured with a “u”) to be part of the incredible arts community in Canada!
