FOUNDER & CEO
MILWAUKEE, WI

Ms. Dodge (she/her) is a children’s theatre director, teaching artist, theatre producer and author. For over 20 years, she has worked with public and private schools, community centers, youth theaters, summer camp programs and park districts to create quality theatre education programs for students of all ages. 

Brenda is also a professional actress who has worked in theatre, commercials and television throughout the Midwest and Southern California.

She is the proud founder of Character Kids, a children's theatre company that provides after school theatre classes to elementary schools and advocates for arts in education. Brenda has worked in close collaboration with classroom teachers, administrators and parents in dozens of school districts throughout the country. She is the author of the book Character Kids: 135 Creative Drama Games to Help Build Confidence, Connection & Creativity.

Brenda has a degree in Theatre, with a minor in mass communication, from Illinois State University. She resides in Franklin, WI with her husband and two children.

EDUCATION MANAGER
TWIN CITIES, MN

Dana (she/her) has loved theatre since she was 6 years old. Since then she has become a director, actor, and theater teaching artist. She has also worked in artistic administration at the Glimmerglass Festival, an opera festival in upstate New York, as well as at Sunset Playhouse, a community theatre in the suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Since graduating with a comprehensive degree in theatre from the University of WI - Eau Claire, she has worked with various theatre companies in and around Milwaukee and the Twin Cities area. She has also worked as a Producer and 1st Assistant Director on multiple award winning films shot throughout the Midwest. Heralding from Wauwatosa, WI, Dana now resides in Minneapolis, MN, where she manages the Twin Cities branch of Character Kids theater programs.

She loves working with children and seeing their confidence grow through the theater arts! When Dana’s not in the classroom, you can find her out on a hike, crocheting, or snuggling with her cat, Gizmo.