SARAH O'BRECHT
Actor. Writer. your mom.
Sarah recently completed her first season as the Apprentice Artistic Director of The Musical Stage Company. She has been invited to return for a second year of apprenticeship as part of the Kathleen C. Freeman Leadership Development Fund this season 2023-2024. She is thrilled to be continuing her learning at the most celebrated not-for-profit musical theatre company in Canada. For more about MSC’s body of work…
Lil’ Guardsman is an indie video game taking the gaming community by storm! Developed by Toronto-based company Hilltop Games, Sarah was so pumped to channel her hero Robin Williams and lend her voice to several quirky characters on this hilarious game. From a Tiny-Tim-inspired goblin child who robs the elderly to a stressed out cyclops single mom Denise, this game was an absolute joy to be part of! Check out our trailer below!
After a long pandemic/early motherhood pause, Sarah returned to the stage in Theatre New Brunswick’s hilarious holiday offering All I Want For Christmas by Rebecca Northan, directed by Natasha MacLellan. It was a wonderful cast, crew, and experience all around — Sarah was honoured to make her theatre return back in her home province! And if you happen to find yerself heading east, go support NB’s local theatre:
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!