Dear Montecito

‘The Secret Garden’

by Stella Haffner

Ask me what our greatest Montecito exports are and I’ll say: Spanishstyle tile, Pierre Lafond wine cake, and talent!

Although born and raised in Los Angeles, today’s Dear Montecito feature has strong roots in Montecito that have inspired her to take up theater. Elevenyear-old Sadie Brickman Reynolds grew up hearing about her mother’s career in dance, her aunt’s screenwriting, her grandmother’s work in canvas and sculpture, and thought it was time to throw her hat in the ring. Having recently been cast as Mary Lennox in her first professional theatrical production, The Secret Garden playing at the Ahmanson Theatre, Sadie is paying homage to her Montecito roots.

Sadie’s grandparents, Paul and Jennifer Brickman, moved to Montecito in 1983. Their two daughters, Nora (Sadie’s mother) and Mattie, attended MUS and Santa Barbara Middle School together before parting ways to attend Santa Barbara High and Cate, respectively. During their childhoods in Montecito, Nora and Mattie got their start in the creative arts. With encouragement from their mother Jennifer, a former dancer herself, the girls attended their first ballet class at age 5. While Mattie would eventually branch off into writing – starting with a weekly column in Montecito Journal – Nora continued on the dance path, earning her BFA at the Boston Conservatory and entering a successful career as a performer and choreographer.

Clearly, there was a strong aptitude for the arts in this family, something director Warren Carlyle could sense when Sadie walked into the room for her Secret Garden audition. One week later, Sadie received exciting news: She was in the small pool of girls who had been offered a callback.