KAYSVILLE—On the night she was named the winner, Brynn Brady was sitting in the audience at a Davis High spring theatrical production, watching her classmates perform. But all the while, she was sharing earbuds with a friend and listening in as the Utah High School Musical Theatre Awards were being presented. Suddenly, in the Best Actress category, Brynn heard her name being called.

“It was actually crazy, the whole thing,” she recalled with a smile. “When they told me I’d been nominated, I submitted a video from my performance of ‘Journey’ from Anastasia. I really didn’t have any expectations of winning, and I was sitting in our auditorium watching the cast of our spring play (she was in the alternating cast so not on stage that night). I texted my director Michael Wright, and he announced it at intermission. It was amazing and a bit surreal.”

The award qualifies her for the national competition that runs through July 1, virtually this year unfortunately for Brynn who would have traveled to New York City on any other non-COVID year. She submitted her performances and on July 15, the national awards show will be aired on Facebook Live.

Brynn, who graduated from Davis High this month, started acting after her family moved to Kaysville when she was 6.

“All my friends played soccer or were in gymnastics, and I tried, but I wasn’t very good at it,” she said. “My mom signed me up for acting class at CenterPoint when I was 8, and I’ve loved acting and singing ever since.”  She performed in the Kaysville-Fruit Heights’ Idol competition, finishing second in her age division. At 11, she started taking voice lessons from Jessica Sant and then Susan Facer. She was drawn to the music of Broadway, and she has built on that love as her career has blossomed.

Brynn is quick to express her thanks to those who’ve helped her along the way, including Wright, Sant, Facer, her CenterPoint director Danny Inkley, and Marny Clark, who directed her at Kaysville Jr. High. She also thanks her parents, Jodi Hanseen and John Brady, and her stepfather Peter Hanseen.

“It’s just so much fun, and I love it,” said the soon-to-be BYU Cougar when school resumes this fall. “This is something I definitely want to do with my life, in whatever way I can.” She is not declaring a major at BYU, but she will be taking a tap dancing class, as well as writing class in Provo. She also hopes to someday perform at Hale Centre Theatre.