Alumni Spotlight: Stephanie (Seward) Brey '13

A graduate of St. Ambrose Univerisity's class of 2013, Stephanie (Seward) Brey is another talented student that our theatre department was lucky to have.

After leaving St. Ambrose with majors in Theatre and French, and a minor in music, Brey's postgraduate adventure began in the theatre. However she later found herself yearning to take another path and decided to take on a career in the field of psychology. Despite this change in direction though, she indicates how beneficial her theatre roots are to her current career.

Starting at the beginning of her journey, Brey was originally drawn to St. Ambrose because of the theatre program, as she had plans to pursue theatre indefinitely. Since she is originally from the Quad Cities, she decided to audition for St. Ambrose's production of Pippin during her junior year of high school and received a role. This experience pulled her in and led her to choose St. Ambrose.

Later, during her college days, she became even more involved and participated in numerous productions. Her favorites include Drowsy Chaperone in which she played Janet Van De Graaf, and Almost Maine where she played Rhonda. "They were both such fun experiences and I enjoyed my characters a lot," said Brey.

After college graduation she found herself in a couple of shows, but realized a full-time theatre career wasn't up her alley. She decided to take some time off to discover what she truly wanted to do in life and by allowing herself to do that, she was guided to her current occupation.

"I realized that what I liked about theatre is exploring the characters, figuring out their motivations, and learning to understand and care about characters you may not originally understand," said Brey. "So then I decided to become a music teacher for a little bit until someone recommended a Master's in Health Counseling program to me."

Presently, Brey is a Co-occurring Recovery Specialist and it is precisely what she was searching for all along.

"I'm like a mental health case manager," she explained. "I work with people who have a diagnosis of a serious and persistent mental illness like bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or schizoaffective disorder.

While her current career and family life are both at the forefront of her life right now, Brey has still found a few ways to become involved in small theatre projects from time to time. She has done a few read throughs with Seth Kaltwasser, a fellow alum and playwright, and recently she participated in a web series with him called Snaps on 3!

Nevertheless, she believes that her theatre background has assisted her, even though her life has taken a different path. According to Brey, "I learned that I shouldn't be afraid to try new things and that has built up my confidence and self-efficacy which allowed me to be able to make such an intimidating jump into a new career."

Brey stands as an admirable example to all, because she has found both success and happiness in her work. The St. Ambrose theatre department is proud to call her an alum and wishes her the best of luck in her future endeavors.