We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brittany Butler a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Brittany, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

My family says I came out singing. Growing up, I sang in church with my dad, in our youth groups and during our sacrament meeting, (main Sunday service). As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a love for music and the arts were instilled in me from a young age through what we called “Roadshows,” which were a sort of Vaudeville like review entertainment. Any time there was a chance to sing and perform, I was always ready. My church activities and performances built my foundation in the arts and to this day, I serve in my local congregation leading music and singing for various services. The moment I knew that I was meant to pursue an artist path professionally was when the high school choir director in my school district heard me sing when I was in 5th grade. He contacted my parents and asked if I had a voice teacher. He was amazed at where my voice was and wanted to make sure I started building a strong foundation to be able to sing for years to come. I knew from then on that no matter what, I was meant to be on stage. Six years after high school graduation, in 2012, (the same year I graduated college), I took all my experience through my studies in my BA in Theatre Arts and minor in Music/Vocal Performance and created my professional character storytelling company, More to the Story Entertainment.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Well, hello there reader! I’m Brittany Butler. I am a professional singer/actor, business owner and middle school librarian from Tucson, Arizona. You could also call me a professional fairy. Did I lose you? That’s okay. Let me explain. Upon being cut from the BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) Musical Theatre program at the University of Arizona (BEAR DOWN), I met with the Dean, and he gave me amazing advice. He looked me dead in the eyes and said, “You are talented and that’s the problem. They fear that. Go and do amazing things. Prove them wrong that they hate you for being so successful.”
That year, 2012, I got to work mapping out building a character company that would provide entertainment and learning through music and storytelling. We would bring fairytale characters to life and celebrate birthdays, sing, dance and perform at community events and fundraisers and spread magic for those families/children who might never be able to visit popular theme parks. After testing out some names, I landed on MORE TO THE STORY ENTERTAINMENT after a song that was in Shrek the Musical but cut from the show in try outs. While most fairytales end with “Happily Ever After,” we know that the story continues, so there is…more to the story. Think about the endless possibilities to dream up and create when you think of a story never ending! We try to convey how important each child’s story is and that it continues on each and every day with new adventures.
You’re probably thinking…what is a character company? Well, we began doing Princess Parties. Yes. Princess Parties. It’s exactly what it sounds like, and not an original idea by any means, but my mission was deeper than just putting on a ball gown, wig, posing for pictures and sounding like a beloved character. It was disguising the joy of reading, storytelling, and connection with participation through music that set us apart. But this wasn’t just about letters and numbers. It was about teaching empathy, character traits, and seeing the world in a bigger way.
After about a year and a half in business and getting some traction, we were contacted to do a story time and appearance at a local museum. I had never heard of the place as it was relatively new at only 4 years old. We were asked to portray some sort of fairy character. My best friend and I appeared as The Sugar Plumb Fairy from The Nutcracker and The Fairy Godmother from Cinderella respectively. We told a story called “The King of Little Things” as it was a miniature museum we were at. In fact, this is the largest miniature museum in the world, The Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures.
The event was their May Day celebration, and it was quite the event. We were so well received that we ended up staying for 2 hours longer than our hour and a half performance time. It was an absolute dream that led to one of the best choices I ever made in my life. About a week after being part of that event, we were asked by the Director of Education, the Founder, and the Museum Board if we could create a story time for children and their families. I have never said YES so quickly in my life! We began creating Tiny Tales for Tots, a storytelling program that is aimed for children 2-7 years old, but anyone is welcome.
I worked with the museum’s founder to bring to life the museum’s main fairy, Fairy Caitlin to life. I’ll never forget that first meeting when she adamantly expressed that Fairy Caitlin is NOT TinkerBell. That is still at the top of my notes for Fairy Caitlin’s character work. At first, my best friend portrayed this beloved ambassador for the museum. After she had moved, I donned the wings and started to flush out who Fairy Caitlin is. Fairy Caitlin is the hostess of Tiny Tales and is almost always present. Her talent is that she can be in multiple places at one time; in her knothole in the tree in The Enchanted Realm, as her miniature version, which is a scavenger hunt through the entire museum, and of course, human sized for story times and events. Fairy Caitlin also has a best friend and a few dragon friends as well. My mom is my business partner. She handles tech for performances, costuming and portrays a dragon trainer at the museum for Tiny Tales. If you know anything about popular children’s books of the last few years, DRAGONS LOVE TACOS and its sequel are it. We have a dragon puppet who we say is from Mexico and his name is Rico Suave. Yes…you read that right. RICO. SUAVE. We are debuting a new dragon this year called Firecracker. He is a bit more involved than Rico and we are excited to see him “take off.”
Since we began Tiny Tales for Tots in the summer of 2012, we have had over 180 story times, I have written and done all the sound for over 200 scripts, and we had over 60 characters from the span of 2015-2019 available to be Fairy Caitlin’s guests during the story times. Each 30–45-minute performance is built knowing that children cannot stay on one thing too long and that each script is more of a guideline. My performers have learned a lot about improvisation and being on your toes because kids are unpredictable. One day they can be all about the story and helping play the some of the parts. Other times, they need to dance and sing songs and could care less about a story.
Through the years, many of my performers have come and gone, but whenever I can fit them into a performance, they love being back to share in the magic of an event or story time. I try my best to preserve the magic of imagination and make-believe through every encounter I have while in character. Like I stated before, so many families cannot afford to take their children to theme parks to meet their favorite characters. My mission is to provide that experience in a way that creates a core memory and allows a child to know they are of value; they are loved and that they have to believe in their dreams. Dreams are powerful and when pursued, they are unstoppable.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

In 2016, I underwent an MVD, or a microvascular decompression for Trigeminal Neuralgia. I suffered from horrible ear infections when I was young and at 11 had a horrible double ear infection. After I was treated, excruciating pain stayed on the left side of my face. From then on, my days would be charted by my pain level. I was never under a 4 and most days were between a 6-7.5. I had constant pain on the left side of my face that would spike if I was doing my makeup, brushing my hair, if anyone touched or kissed me on the cheek. I can only describe the pain as if it was a constant zapping of electricity that was coupled with a red-hot poker being driven into my face. It was horrible. Sound, wind, lights and other environmental triggers started causing spikes in pain. I wore a cotton ball in my ear for close to 15 years because sound was such a trigger. I’m a singer. I trained without the use of my left ear.
I was undiagnosed for almost 4 years. Test after test, this drug and that drug and finally, one day, my neurologist looked into TN. The thing is that this chronic illness is common mostly in older people. I was the youngest patient in Arizona for a couple years until a 4-year-old was diagnosed.
Why would the MVD procedure in 2016 be so poignant and show resilience? Up until that year, I had only been treating this chronic illness with drugs. I underwent an MRI and finally something was found; a blood vessel was resting on my 5th nerve. This procedure didn’t “cure” me, but it did change my life in how my pain manifests itself. At the same time, I was still running a business. I had to learn to delegate and allow my cast to fill in for a good 6-8 weeks while I recovered. When I came back to performing and doing parties, I was so grateful to be able to do what I love with less pain. It was a hard 6-8 months after surgery, but I learned that I could do hard things and lean on the support I had around me.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is being able to touch someone’s life. Whether it’s brightening their day or helping them remember good memories, I hope that in everything I do as a singer and actor/storyteller that I am able to bring joy and happiness. I have received beautiful letters over the years from people who have heard me sing. Vanity and ego aside, to hear someone say that they got lost in my voice and it kept their mind off their troubles and sadness if only for a moment, I would say I have done the best thing a human could do for another human. Validation. Empathy. For me, it’s not about being “famous.” Sharing emotion through song is my goal.

Contact Info:

• Website: moretothestoryentertainment.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/officialbrittanybutler
• Facebook: facebook.com/brittanymariebutler
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanymariebutler/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/brittanybutler
• Other: tiktok.com/@officialsinginglibrarian