Today we’d like to introduce you to Covi Loveridge Brannan

Hi Covi Loveridge, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

Though I’ve been in New York City for almost a decade now, I am actually from the small beach cities outside of Los Angeles. Growing up I pretty much spent all my time with my toes in the sand. I’m the oldest of three siblings, and our parents are both actors, so we had a pretty bohemian upbringing with a lot of creative freedom and support to follow our interests. I got into acting very young, starting with summer camps, and soon joined the youth acting conservatory at South Coast Repertory in Orange County when I was around eight years old.

My dad would drive me for over an hour on Saturday mornings, and we would listen to audiobooks like Treasure Island, Pride & Prejudice, and Bridge to Terabithia. I remember acting class being the thing I looked forward to every week. After a year or so, I was selected by my teachers to try out for one of the Bob Cratchit’s children in South Coast Rep’s annual production of ‘A Christmas Carol’.

I have vivid memories of the audition process, where we were asked to “walk through the space as if it were snowing” and improvise a dinner scene with the adult actors. I remember in the callback, the director told me to imagine I had on a new Christmas dress and I had to get my father to notice without telling him verbally.

I immediately began twirling around the stage and jumping up and down with excitement. The actor playing my father could barely keep himself from laughing and eventually started jumping up and down with me in an attempt to make eye contact. It was that piece of silly, uninhibited 9-year-old creativity that landed me my first role in a professional production.

My experience in ‘A Christmas Carol’ at SCR was definitely the point where I realized that a career as a stage actor was something that I wanted for my life. This led to many more classes, auditions, callbacks, and rejections. I transferred schools to get a better performing arts education, and the Theatre Department faculty at Harvard-Westlake High School were invaluable mentors and teachers to me in my adolescent years. Without their unwavering support and encouragement, I wouldn’t have ended up at The New School for Drama in NYC, studying both acting and playwriting.

My college experience was a bit of a whirlwind. I threw myself into voice, movement, acting, and playwriting classes with my mentor, Nicole Burdette. I performed in college productions as well as in projects that my friends and I put up around the city. By my junior year, I had decided to pursue my Masters in Performing Arts Management & Entrepreneurship while earning my BFA. During my five years at TNS, I was exhausted but creatively fulfilled, moving a mile a minute. Then, everything ground to a halt in March 2020. Suddenly, I was back in California, my graduate capstone performance was postponed indefinitely, and my graduation would be held on Zoom.

Like most everyone, especially artists whose careers depend on live-performance, the lockdown period rocked my world. I felt extremely frustrated and directionless. I grew restless and had trouble feeling any semblance of creativity. This period of pause, however, led me to one of the most impactful journeys of my life: a six-month stay in São Paulo, Brazil.

Since his visa expired, my boyfriend at the time had returned to his home country, and we had no idea when he would be allowed back to the US. One day over Zoom, he asked me if I’d ever consider coming to Brazil for a while. I’m not sure why it was such an easy decision for me to make, but less than four months later, I landed at Guarulhos International Airport.

My time in Brazil was one of the most challenging, exciting, inspiring periods of my life. I was immersed in a culture that I quickly fell in love with. As I went from barely being able to say “good morning/bom dia” to conversing with ease, it felt as if my entire world was breaking open. Then began the second phase of my trip. After a six-hour drive, my boyfriend dropped me off at IPBio Reserva Betary, a nature preserve in the Atlantic Rainforest. I spent about six weeks there as an “eco-volunteer”, assisting biologist in their field research. It feels impossible to describe the magic of that place, but being “in nature” 24/7 awoke the same sensation of joy I felt in my childhood by the beach.

Well, I’m back in NYC now, and life has ramped back up to a fast pace. I am back to creating projects, collaborating with incredible artists, and taking in every ounce of vibrancy the city has to offer.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

Coming back to city life after my time away in California and Brazil was not easy. I went through a very painful breakup soon after returning to NYC, and it was hard to feel grounded. This restlessness was a bit of a shock; the city had always felt like where I was meant to be.

I came to realize how much I valued being able to connect with nature on a daily basis. Nature exists everywhere, of course, and humans ARE a part of nature, but amidst the hustle and bustle, I find myself daydreaming of a slower life more and more often.

All this said, when I need to re-center myself, I focus on the irreplaceable things about my life here. New Yorkers are the coolest, most interesting people you’ll ever meet and being surrounded by such high caliber art everywhere I turn is invaluable.

I have spent the past few years building a vibrant, international, multi-lingual community of artistic collaborators whom I adore and would never have met anywhere else. I have had the opportunity to work on innovative artistic projects that take big creative risks. New York is an incredible place to produce unconventional works, and I have been blessed to focus on projects that center healing.

I have also learned that I need to get out of the city once and a while! This has resulted in everything from planning fun hikes off the Metro-North to spending summers away doing free outdoor Shakespeare.

I am immensely proud of the work I have created, and each new project brings exciting challenges as a performer, writer, and producer. I am not sure where I’ll be a few years from now, but I know every experience along the way is building me exactly into the person and artist that I’m meant to become.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?

I am an actor, playwright, dramaturg, and creative producer. All that really means is I love to make things happen! I believe that art is vital to understanding who we are, where we come from, and where we need to go, as individuals and as a society. I discussed this a bit more in depth in my last chat with Bold Journey, but in terms of niche, I specialize in site-specific and eco-theatre.

Site-specific theatre brings shows to unconventional spaces (often ones that weren’t originally intended for performances) in order to enhance the experience for the audience and artists. For example, have you ever seen a Shakespeare play at a local park? Say you’re doing a show about sailors: why not have a performance on a boat?

Even if there’s no “theater” space in your community, there is nothing stopping you from doing a show on someone’s front lawn, in a coffee shop after hours, or in an empty store-front. Of course, there are some extra hoops to jump through–like getting city permits and finding innovative ways to seat audiences–but often these “limitations” lead to highly creative solutions which make the experience better for everyone. To that end, site-specific projects can be a great way to engage local people who wouldn’t otherwise have access to these type of events.

“Eco-theatre” is generally defined as theatre that engages with environmental issues, like climate change and community resiliency. That means being very cognizant about your use of both energy and physical resources. For example, using up-cycled materials for sets and costumes can really minimize waste.

If you ask me, the key to eco-theatre is a mindset shift. You must ask artists and audiences to consider themselves (humans) as part of Nature rather than separate from it. This is tougher than it sounds when we live in a capitalist, post-Industrial society that emphasizes our distance from plants, waterways, and non-human living things.

In reality, we affect and are affected by our environment every day, and I think the content we consume should reflect that. In fact, I prefer to use the label “eco-social theatre” to reinforce that human connection!

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?

I was a super friendly, outgoing kid. My favorite things to do were go to the beach or play outside. I’ve always been clumsy, so I definitely preferred “imagination games” to sports. I had pretty much no fear of strangers and made it my mission to make every kid at the playground my new best friend. Picture a little girl with bangs, a big smile sans two front teeth, wearing a flowery cotton dress–with corduroy pants layered underneath if it was cold.

I absolutely loved making lemonade stands, but I’ll admit I was not the best when it came to making money. I would sit outside with a pitcher, my cat at my feet, and hold a sign that literally read “Covi’s Lemonade, 10 cents or free!”. I like to think I’ve held on to that sense of generosity as I’ve gotten older.

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