BREAKROOM ENTERTAINMENT
Together, We Art More
Breakroom Entertainment was founded by professional entertainers Pedro Amaral and Ricky Marenda and launched officially in July of 2023.
Breakroom’s mission is simple: we want to create enjoyable, accessible, and well-crafted entertainment experiences for our audience, while also establishing a comfortable, inclusive, and respectful space for artists to share (and be compensated for) their work.
Our small team has experienced the extremes of working in live theater: we’ve performed for state-of-the-art, multi-million dollar entertainment corporations, and we’ve also started community theaters from the ground up with nothing but a paintbrush and a dream. We’ve had great success in both areas.
So how do we succeed here?
In the professional world, success can sometimes be measured by how booked you are. Making a living as a professional performer requires constant, unrelenting drive because the competition is fierce, the opportunities are few, and the next gig is never guaranteed. The most successful entertainment professionals take each contract as an opportunity to learn, make connections, and keep moving forward. They may sometimes take jobs they don’t necessarily love, but they recognize that every opportunity can be a launching pad for the next one.
By contrast, community theater performers are volunteers. For them, success is measured by the experience itself. Cast and crew alike have the unenviable task of mounting full-scale productions with very small budgets and very big needs, all of which are realized by a scrappy band of volunteers whose entire reward is getting to create together. Everyone is there solely for the love of it, so they’re willing to donate their time, energy, and talent simply for the privilege of making art.
This dichotomy is what informs Breakroom’s unique point of view: we want to create engaging, well-crafted entertainment that always keeps community at its heart.
And this community extends to our audience, without whom the theater simply cannot exist. Whether our productions make you laugh, or cry, or think, we hope you laugh or cry or think together.
Because together, we art more.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Ricky Marenda President
Pedro Amaral Artistic Director
Cindy Miller-Ray Director of Fun
Peter Belk Secretary
Corey Wade Treasurer
Rebekah Burder Marketing
Jamie Cuffe Events Coordinator
Jessica Dvoracsek Fundraising Coordinator
Lindsay Card Legal Advisor