Sandra Brenneis doesn't have much time for sitting these days, but if she did, it would likely be on a park bench somewhere near Villeneuve's West Country Hearth.
Sandra Brenneis doesn't have much time for sitting these days, but if she did, it would likely be on a park bench somewhere near Villeneuve's West Country Hearth.
The Park Bench is Brenneis' latest musical and it will be performed June 15 to 17 at the Arden Theatre as a fundraiser for the West Country Hearth seniors' residence. Over the past 10 years her fundraising plays, including Mary's Veil, The Lost Apostle and The Park Bench have raised $370,000 for the seniors' home.
A psychologist, the 48-year-old Brenneis is co-ordinator of family services for Sturgeon School Division and in this capacity she visits all the schools talking to both students and teachers. It can be a difficult job, as Brenneis listens to so many people. She chooses to reflect on the positives alone.
"My job gives me the good fortune to see things in proportion. Sometimes I juggle so many balls and I think I'm so tired. But then I work with children with cognitive difficulties and I see their joy in life. I have the ability to do anything but here they are. So I tell myself to stop whining and stay the course," Brenneis said.
At night, however, songs come to her head in the least expected ways and often she'll wake up and jot down a wisp of a memory or the throbbing heart of a melody. For Brenneis, staying the course has come to mean being true to the plays she writes to support the seniors' home in her community.
As a Villeneuve daughter, wife, mother and teacher, it's almost as if she feels the mood of her hometown and is compelled to tell its story.
Brenneis was always involved as a volunteer in her community and for many years directed the choir at Villeneuve's St. Peter's Parish.
As a child she took some music lessons. For her family, singing is almost as important as breathing.
"We sang at family gatherings. We sang around the campfire at the lake. At Christmas, one aunt would always be playing the piano and we would sing. We always sang doing the dishes. I think it was Mom's way of keeping us from fighting," she said.
In 2002 Brenneis' sister, retired MLA Colleen Soetaert, began campaigning to build a seniors' residence in Villeneuve.
At the time Brenneis was busy writing a song to commemorate Colleen and Ray Soetaert's 25th wedding anniversary. She had written a few songs before for family members, but never a play. But the parish priest suggested to Brenneis that she write a play to raise funds for the residence and she agreed to take the challenge.
In the same way that small communities raise a barn, working together to build a seniors' home became a Villeneuve initiative and nearly everyone became involved, from choir members at the church, to students in Sturgeon schools, to seniors living in West Sturgeon.
Brenneis enlisted the help of a distant cousin, Alice Goulet, to help with music composition.
"She didn't have any computer programs then to write music. I had some musical training, and she'd come with this hilarious scribble that we'd have to translate into a song. We sat at the piano and picked it out and slowly and surely she figured the plot out along the way," Goulet recalled.
The creative process she witnessed first hand astonished Goulet.
"She had this goal and she has the definite ability to do it. The way songs came to her and the lyrics, was absolutely amazing," Goulet said.
In essence Mary's Veil was a biblical story but The Park Bench is a modern-day story that reflects the truth of life.
"The Park Bench is not a Bible story and has no religious affiliation, but it is a story of faith and touches all aspects of life. Sandra draws a lot on the stories she knows and she is compelled to write. She's inspired," Goulet said.
Another distant cousin, Rene Soetaert, performed in all three musicals and marvels at the community participation that he says is led by Brenneis.
"I'm 68, and I take part though I never did anything like this before," he said. "Sandra has endless energy and she gets the young people involved and the whole community pulls together. She rounds up musicians – cello players, violinists, drummers – all from the community."
Brenneis finds it is difficult to turn off the creative tap. In her few spare moments she takes time to learn the mechanics of recording CDs. She is constantly thinking of new songs.
"I'm looking at sounds with a more critical eye. It's not as amazing as it is lucky and when the melody comes, you have to sit and play it. It's like digging for a fossil. Sometimes it comes to you in a flash and you see it right away. Other times you have to dig for it," Brenneis said.
She stresses that the communal force that her plays became also tugs at her own will and wishes.
"If we didn't have a cause we believed in, if we didn't have a need, if we didn't have people who supported us, if we didn't have people who took part – then they would just be songs," she said.
"We've had 44 shows and raised $370,000 and that means 20,000 people paid to come to the shows. They paid because they were supporting West Country Hearth."
"I'm sure my mother kissed me the day I was born."
"Nothing that I've done in life was done on my own. Even our children! My husband Ryan and I raised our children together. I've been recognized for achievement, but I would stress that none of it was accomplished without the help of others."
"I'm stumped. I'm pretty doggone happy. Maybe I'd wish for a little more white space in the day but it's work I've chosen, so I'm happy."
"I would change the focus of where people invest their time and energy. I think too often people approach life from the wrong perspective and they get caught up in business and in busyness of the details and they leave by all those things that really matter. What really matters is to be nice to people and to be present, to do volunteer work and to care beyond our own selves and our own household."
"I love any food. In our family there are no small gatherings. We always feed the masses so quantity, not quality is what's important. I do like fresh bread. My grandmother and my mother made bread and now I make it too."
"I'm a mellow ballad girl and I love interesting melodies that when you walk away you can remember and hum. Those songs stick with you."
"I'll Love You Forever by Robert Munsch."
"Every summer we go to Long Lake and stay in a camper. The whole family goes for a couple of weeks and that's what we did growing up with our parents too."
"I don't know about my tombstone but I always joke with my sisters that before I die I'm going to put on a ton of weight so I'll be too heavy for them to carry if they are pallbearers."
