Lorna Brunelle, ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’

MIDDLEBORO — Lorna Brunelle came from a household that was, in her words, “rich on love, but lean on money.”

She knew when it came time to apply for college that she needed a full scholarship. But when she asked her guidance counselor for help getting her math grade up, she remembers being told: “You're pretty, you're popular, you're charismatic. Just marry a rich guy and have his babies. You don't need school.”

Years later, she would hear an eerily similar answer from a bank officer when she asked for a $5,000 loan to open a performing arts studio. The answer, as she remembers it: “You’re really charismatic. You're definitely going to land on your feet. But investing in you is too risky.”

It's a good thing she did not heed their advice.

In 1995, Brunelle opened The Burt Wood School of Performing Arts. Now approaching its 30th anniversary, the institution has produced students who have gone on to Boston’s biggest theaters, Broadway, national news channels, Netflix . . . The list goes on.

Brunelle has coached actors in A-list films with Boston Casting and mentored dozens of young women who have competed in the Miss Massachusetts and Miss America pageants. She also created Sip & Stroll, and has survived cancer — twice.

Interviewing her is a tall task.

“I know,” she nodded, sitting at her long, wooden dining table, built with wood from the original structure of her historic home.

She and husband Roger Brunelle bought their home, which was built in the 1840s and belonged to the Middleboro merchant Ebenezer Soule, in 1997. Roger currently serves as labor advisor to Gov. Maura Healey.

At the core of Brunelle’s success is a strong belief in herself, something that she preaches to her students at the Burt Wood School.

“Our whole thing is confidence right out of the gate.” She calls it the “secret sauce. Nothing under our roof can be disparaging. Even if kids are making fun of themselves in a self-deprecating way, we’re like no — we’re not doing that.”

After the bank rejected her pitch, Brunelle applied for a Discover credit card. She used the $800 credit line to buy all her equipment at the local 4-H fair.

Brunelle says her entrepreneurial spirit and “hard-core sense of never giving up” comes from her father, Danny Warren. A successful businessman, Warren developed the newly opened Warren’s Harborview restaurant and marina in Wareham.

The Burt Wood School of the Performing Arts, named after inspirational Middleboro High School music teacher Louisa Burt Wood Pratt, was originally located at 27 Center St. Two moves later, the school would open in its current location at 133 Center St. and acquire its own performance space, The Alley Theatre.

When Autumn Jean-Francois started taking classes at Burt Wood School in 2020, she was in special education classes. Four years later, she is an honor roll student at Middleboro High School, needing very little educational support, says her mother, Ashley Ferrini.

“Had you asked us back in elementary school where we would see Autumn in five years, the answer would not have been holding lead casting positions and [beginning] Miss Massachusetts training,” she said.

The school preaches the importance of inclusivity, said Richard Bois, who has worked at Burt Wood for 15 years. When students feel “included and safe and in their surroundings, it allows them to have confidence,” he said.

A pillar of Lorna Brunelle’s philosophy is giving back. Why? “I’m standing on the shoulders of giants,” she said. “Where would I be without my theater teacher, my Girl Scout troop leader, my English teacher, Louisa Burt Wood Pratt? Where would I be without all the people who helped me for free?”

She says that is why she got involved in the Miss America Foundation, the world’s largest scholarship organization for young women.

“I went to college on a full scholarship,” notes Brunelle, who now wants to give young women the same opportunity she had.

“When I met Lorna, I wanted to be Miss Massachusetts USA and a news anchor. I achieved both,” said Jackie Bruno, who won Miss Massachusetts 2008 under Brunelle’s mentorship. “This is a story you will hear time and time again. Lorna empowers people to believe in the possibility of their dreams and shows them how to take those first steps.”

Similarly, Brunelle started the Sip & Stroll craft fair to support local vendors and artisans. Several times a year, Sip & Stroll brings thousands to Middleboro’s Town Hall green. During the event, you cannot find a spot at Central Café, Charred Oak Tavern has a two-hour wait, and there is a line out the door at Coffee Milano, she noted.

Each year, the craft fair brings in five or six custom orders for Nemasket Craft, a Middleboro-based company that produces custom-designed metal work, reports owner John Healey.

“She’s a cheerleader for everybody," said Healey of Brunelle. “She has been great to us. She is always telling people about us.”

The secret behind Sip & Stroll’s success is that it has something for everyone, according to Brunelle. From beard oil to custom-made wooden floral arrangements, customers can find all sorts of goodies. “We want something for the guys, something for the wives, something for the kids,” she said.

Whether it's supporting local businesses or finding young Miss Massachusetts candidates to sing at Veterans events, Lorna Brunelle “is always there to help,” said Middleboro Town Manager Jay McGrail. “That’s what makes her invaluable to this community.”

Sip & Stroll became so successful that it has spread to Kingston and has received unanimous approval from the Select Board to come to Wareham. The town of Hanover is also looking to host a Sip & Stroll event, according to Brunelle.

She says the craft fair is like a production.

“It’s the same formula except the cast, if you will, are the artists selling their wares, the rehearsal is the setup, and the production is like: Lights, Camera, Action, Let’s do this thing,” Brunelle said.

But who is Lorna Brunelle behind closed doors?

“I’m a perfectionist and I like to take things to the next level,” she said.

When she’s not on stage, she’s usually covered in flour and sugar, or eggs and breadcrumbs. Baking and cooking are her other creative outlets.

“I would say every day before I go to work, I've baked something or cooked something,” she said, dumping a handful of cranberries into a mixing bowl at her kitchen counter.

Her upbeat nature makes it hard to imagine she is also a two-time cancer survivor.

Brunelle is a 20-year survivor of thyroid cancer, which she was diagnosed with in February of 2005. Then in June of 2024, she was diagnosed with Stage 4 colorectal cancer, and doctors suggested she start updating her will.

After hearing that news, she said, “I thought about my legacy non-stop.” She thought about the beautiful memories her mother, who died of breast cancer, had left behind, and asked herself if she had done enough.

“My mom’s entire legacy was loving people,” she said.

Brunelle would soon receive a second medical opinion at Dana Farber Cancer Institute and learn that she did not, in fact, have Stage 4 cancer. She is now at the tail end of her treatment for Stage 1 cancer, she said.

But during those dark days, Brunelle realized she had made peace with the footprint she would have left behind. She says, with conviction: “I’ve spent 30 years educating people to give back. That’s enough.”