ALTHOUGH HER TIME ON STAGE VARIES with each role she
plays, Brittany is constantly inspired by her ability to help the audience
temporarily escape reality. When preparing for roles, Brittany dissects
the characters from all angles in order to relate to them. “It makes being
the character on stage easier to bring to life when you believe what the
character is going through.” While she’s been in close to 35 different plays,
she still gets butterflies each performance night. “Preparing to walk on
stage, standing behind the wing, I can feel the excitement of the audience.
Add that to the makeup, wigs, costumes, lights, music and fellow actors,
and that makes for an awesome night!”
While some may dream of expanding to Broadway, Brittany is content
here in Florence. “I have such a great theater family here at FLT that going
anywhere else just seems wrong. As for moving forward in trying to make
my passion a career, I feel – for me – it would suck the fun out of what
I love. Donating my time and energy back into the community has its own
special reward that cannot be defined by a dollar amount. I would rather
this passion stay a hobby and a love than for there to be pressure to make
it work as a career.” While it won’t be a full-time job, acting has had many
benefits in her life. “I get to meet people of all ages and from all walks of
life. They’re truly my theater family. I get to do something that I love to
do alongside some dear friends who enjoy the quirky theater life as well.”
This year, Brittany is lending her talents to the Florence Little Theatre
in a different manner by choreographing the closing musical of the season, Shrek. She has been partaking in this passion for 12 years, having
choreographed four shows at FLT. “I enjoy the freedom to be creative and
express myself. It’s cool to see my ‘art’ live on stage and see how others
interpret what I ‘see.’ I really enjoy choreographing for musicals at FLT.” So
far, Brittany has had a wonderful experience and is excited to be a part of
the production. “Shrek is a high energy show and there’s a TON of dancing in all different genres. I’m pretty diverse in the dance styles required
for the show. Everyone involved brings something different to the table,
but we all mesh together so well. The respect we hold for one another is
astounding!”
While she eagerly awaits the announcement of next season’s shows,
Brittany is looking forward to the unknown and spending yet another year
at FLT. “They are my family and there are always new people coming into
the mix. Getting to know new people and having this awesome community
and family is so much fun. We ‘get’ each other!”
Brittany Miles resides in Florence, South Carolina, where she is a 5-K Assistant Teacher at
Calvary Baptist Pre-School and Kindergarten and a hair stylist at Panache Creative Hair
Salon. She is the daughter of Milton Miles and Renee Miles, and sister to Chase.
SHEMAGAZINE.COM
FEBRUARY 2016
115