Brunson joins hall of fame

She’s selfless.

She’s giving.

She doesn’t expect recognition.

That’s the way Carol Gebert describes Sue Brunson.

The latter’s reaction to her induction into the state thespian hall of fame supports those assertions.

“I feel like there are so many people who are so much more deserving of the award,” said Brunson, who was inducted Saturday during the Indiana Thespians state conference at Franklin Central High School. “I would have never have thought of myself in that vein.”

Gebert, who leads Jay County High School’s thespians, nominated Brunson for the honor, which focuses on those who promote live theatre in education. Recipients must have been involved in directing shows for at least 20 years and participated regularly with Indiana Thespians.

Brunson, who teaches English and French at JCHS, has worked as Gebert’s assistant  director for the last few years.

“Sue is one of the most unrecognized people in our community,” said Gebert. “She’s worked so many years with civic theatre. And she was willing to be my assistant, yet she could run the program if she chose to. She’s just always willing to help.

“She doesn’t expect to ever get recognized for what she does. She just does it because she loves it.

“When it comes to theatre, she’s extremely knowledgable.”

Brunson’s induction comes on the heels of last year’s local inductees Bob Franks, Sara Franks-Farris and Dolphus Stephens. 

Brunson has been involved in theatre at JCHS for decades, most often in support of directors like Gebert and her aforementioned predecessors, as well as Tony Howell, all of whom she compliments for their dedication to the program.

“I’ve always tried to support the other directors because I love live theatre,” she said. “If any of the other directors ever asked for help or wanted to have me sit in and give them a critique or any helpful hints or anything like that, I was always more than willing. If you want my help, ‘Heck yeah, I’ll help you out. What do you need?”

Brunson directed three Jay County High School shows herself, the first of which was “Up the Down Staircase.” She also directed “The Crucible,” working things out to allow the show to be performed during the school day so that 11th graders, who read the book for her English class, could attend.

And her final show as a director was “Harvey,” which holds a certain sentimental value.

It was during Jay County Civic Theatre’s 1983 production of “Harvey” that she fell in love with her future husband, Tom Casey. They had their first kiss backstage on opening night.

Other favorite moments for Brunson in theatre include producing Jay County Civic Theatre’s production of “The Rivals” in 1984 and acting alongside her daughter Ann during the 2011 production of “Our Town.”

In June, Jay County Civic Theatre honored Brunson with the Tom Casey Award, named for her former husband who died in 1997.

That award was presented as a surprise, and the hall of fame honor was meant to be one as well. But with a projected winter storm, which kept JCHS students from attending the conference, Gebert decided to tell Brunson in advance to make sure her colleague would make the trip to the school on the southeast side of Indianapolis.

Brunson said she had no intention of missing the conference, but the news that she was going to be inducted, although it came early, still caught her off guard.

“Shocking. This year, I’ll tell ya. I mean, this year has just been one of those … I can’t even,” she said trailing off into a series of “whats” and “hows.” “It feels pretty good. But it’s still surprising, shocking.”