Following a career in business communication, intermingled with part-time professional singing and performance art, Brady took David Ford’s “Creating and Performing Your Own Work” class at the Marsh Theater in San Francisco. Her first 20-minute monologue, about her aging eccentric father, who refuses to go into assisted living as two anxious daughters compete for his affection, grew into a solo show, Father Daughter & Holy Toast. She’s performed excerpts at the Marsh, including Monday Night Marsh and Tell It On Tuesday and at fringe festivals across the country, earning laudatory reviews. “Impressive...  this is a woman worth leaning in and listening to,” said the Orlando Weekly.

The death of a more sinister relative led to creating My Dead Uncle’s Porn Collection, also in collaboration with David Ford. This show premiered at the 2025 Tampa Fringe Festival and was an official selection of the 2025 Soaring Solos Stars Series in LA. Of this performance, NoHo Arts District Theatre Reviews said, “Barbara has created something nuanced and perceptive… brilliantly written and brutally and honestly performed.” She is performing at the 2026 Rogue Performance Festival and the Ooley Theater Women’s Wit & Wisdom Festival in March 2026. 

Now, Barbara thinks of herself as a writer, performer and visual artist.  She’s auntriarch of a sprawling extended family, who are kind enough to let her tell our stories on stage. She also sings a cappella jazz with an 8-woman ensemble, the Merlot Notes, based in Silicon Valley.