Bry Grant
Bry Grant plays Maureen Johnson in Rent. Based on the character Musetta in La Bohème, she once roomed with Benny, Collins, Roger and Mark. In fact, she was the latter’s girlfriend until she dumped him for Joanne (which is based on playwright Jonathan Larson’s personal life, in which one of his girlfriends dumped him for a woman). Her embrace of bohemian values and lifestyle prompts her to comment on the world through performance art. 
Not only does that avant-garde passion let her satirize capitalism and inequality and challenge the status quo, it also ensures all eyes are always on her. Confident, sexy and flirtatious, Maureen adores attention, whether it’s from her girlfriend Joanne, her ex-boyfriend Mark, or the public who come to see her shows. Her latest cause célèbre is the fact that her former friend Benny is trying to displace a homeless community to build an apartment complex.
In A Chorus Line, Bry portrayed Sheila Bryant, an equally flirtatious diva of sorts. Haughty and naughty, she cops an attitude with the director, Zach, with whom she apparently has history, for good or ill. But her “A” seems to come from her personal, family history. Growing up, she watched her father denigrate her mother, on whom he cheated from at least the time Sheila was five. Placing her fate in the hands of a man, any man, including Zach, 
runs counter to her sense of self-worth and independence. With the expiration date on her career as a performer fast approaching, the 29-year-old is thinking about trading in her dance shoes for a dance studio of her own. Originally portrayed on Broadway by Kelly Bishop (who won a Supporting Actress Tony for her performance), the character’s background is largely drawn from her own life story.
Grant was marvelous in the role, coming across as brash, fierce and 
sometimes combative. Look out Val Clark, and anyone else who is tries to push her buttons.
Bry has been performing in musical theater productions for four years, and singing and dancing for ten. Some of her favorite credits include Diana in a previous production of A Chorus Line, Anita in West Side Story, Sour Kangaroo in Seussical 
and Carmen Bernstein in Curtains. A Chorus Line marked her Fort Myers Theatre debut.
June 17, 2022; revised July 23, 2022.
About the Author
Tom Hall is both an amateur artist and aspiring novelist who writes art quest thrillers. He is in the final stages of completing his debut novel titled "Art Detective," a story that fictionalizes the discovery of the fabled billion-dollar Impressionist collection of Parisian art dealer Josse Bernheim-Jeune, thought by many to have perished during World War II when the collection's hiding place, Castle de Rastignac in southern France, was destroyed by the Wehrmacht in reprisal for attacks made by members of the Resistance operating in the area. A former tax attorney, Tom holds a bachelor's degree as well as both a juris doctorate and masters of laws in taxation from the University of Florida. Tom lives in Estero, Florida with his fiancee, Connie, and their four cats.