I have a stress headache and it’s sitting right behind my right eye. It may have something to do with the weather. Or arranging a rental car for next week. If I think about what may be causing the ache, it makes the ache burn deeper. And it’s not super easy to ignore but it’s also not unbearable. Except when I think about it. When I think about it, it’s unbearable. As you may already know, Brenda is leaving our active ensemble.
Why? We’ll never know… (THAT’S NOT TRUE! HOMEGIRL IS MOVING TO CALI!)
Where? She won’t say… (SEE ABOVE! JUST LOOK UP!)
When? Well, whenever the hell she wants… (This is kinda true.)
If you know Brenda and her work, you already know that this girl marches to the beat of a different drummer. A drummer that isn’t really even a drummer. He went to school for finance but smoked too much grass his sophomore year and flunked out. He’s working at the Best Buy now and got really good at Rock Band so he thought, “Fuck it. Ima get me some drums.” His name is Sam.
There is no proper way to say goodbye to Brenda. But we, the ensemble and staff she leaves in her wake, are going to try. I asked everyone to send me a sentence as their way of saying goodbye to Brenda, a statement that would sum up their feelings on her departure. In no particular order…
Kendall Karg: I’m enjoying getting to know the Neos. My favorite way to do so is learning Neos through the lens of other Neos. Brenda had a few of us over in her apartment, and Leah and I were there first, nosing about in her living room while she fed Connie the nose-licking chihuahua. Leah walked over to the beautiful antique globe displayed in the corner of the room, promptly took hold of the axis, and lifted up the lid to reveal Brenda’s booze stash. Surprised, I asked Leah how she knew the globe was a liquor cabinet. Laughing gleefully, she says to me, “Because why else is there a globe in Brenda’s apartment?” So now I know, Brenda likes globes and liquor— and is known well and loved fiercely by her fellow Neos. And as she moves away when I know so little about her yet, I’m grateful that they’ll keep telling me stories about her until we hang out together in California all the time and sip drinks from a globe-booze-cabinet.
Lily Mooney: brenda going makes me feel the way we do when we can’t find a needed prop for the next play as it’s starting: stumbling in the dark, stomach in my knees, yelling MOVE ON MOVE ON MOVE ON.
Trevor Dawkins: Brenda is a lamb of god.
Kurt Chiang: I can imagine Brenda encased in one of these, and still being able to breathe comfortably somehow.
Leah Urzendowski: Brenda has purchased 2 piñatas for the show. I’ve only murdered one.
Dan Kerr-Hobert: BOR BOR BORNDA! (HEY! THAT’S THE TITLE OF THIS BLOG!)
Bilal Dardai: Every time I see a random cardboard box in the world I’m going to wonder what amazing thing Brenda would have made out of it.
Kirsten Riiber: [Has broken her silence]
Ida Cutter: O sea, que Brenda es la neofuturist mas, pero, MAS chula. O sea, No es “adios” Es “hasta luego” !
Malic White: The first time I hung out with Brenda, we went on a field trip to the Leather Archives and giggled at all the Sex Things. ‘Twas a Fated Friendship
Jeewon Kim: Due To Fear Of Copyright Law, This Image Exists As A Clickable
Tif Harrison: The view of the alley behind the theater is best when shared with Brenda.
Nick Hart: She can’t leave. She still owes me a drink. And three days worth of chicken tenders.
Taylor Bailey: My first real interaction with Brenda was at a bar after the 25th anniversary performances of Too Much Light where she sat down with me, put on her most “I do not suffer fools” face, looked me in the eye and told me I had no excuse not to be confident, how to take any man I wanted home with me, how to demand the attention of others and how to solve all my love problems. Brenda always makes me feel…sexy. Is that odd? It’s about confidence. When Brenda is around, she makes me feel more confident. And that makes me feel sexy. So, saying goodbye to Brenda? That feels remarkably unsexy. But in a way…she helped me find the sexy in me. So she lives on. In my sexy. Thank you Brenda. For the friendship, the laughs, the inappropriate YouTube videos. And for the sexy.
Brenda Arellano: I DON’T GIVE A FUCK!!**
Come to the show this weekend and send her off right. Girl deserves it, ya know what I’m saying?
**Please note, Brenda did not write this. Brenda actually cares quite a bit. But having her voice absent from this post seems wrong. Her voice missing from anything seems wrong. Remember what I said earlier about my stress headache, I think I know where it’s coming from. It’s not as bad as yesterday but maybe that’s because I’m drinking more water today.
Looks like Brenda’s not the only little tender…
