It was clearly Brayden Handwerger’s destiny to stand on a stage. Dramatic actor, balladeer, Broadway belter, Heartland rock ’n roller—his gifts were unmistakable.
But as he prepares to transfer to Cornell University, this natural-born performer has flipped the script. The stage Brayden now aspires to ascend is Capitol Hill.
“I want to be a congressman,” says the 22-year-old Corsair from Poway, California.
In a remarkable turnabout, Brayden will begin his junior year at Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations in September. The undergraduate program is a recognized feeder to top law schools, the desired end-station in Brayden’s educational journey.
How does a dramatic tenor who in his first semester snagged the title role in SMC’s 2023 production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame end up graduating in political science and economics with a 4.0 GPA?
Brayden didn’t have a masterplan. “SMC simply gave me the opportunity to explore academically,” he says.
Initially enrolling as a film major, he drifted toward business and entertainment, then briefly back to theater. He experimented with accounting, policy analysis, leadership, math, economics, sociology and philosophy.
“I tried so many different things,” he says. “It was through that process that I really got to find what I love, which is politics. I can never thank SMC enough for that.”
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Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Brayden grew up in the northern San Diego suburb of Poway, where his multicultural family settled when he was a toddler.
His dad, Bronner, is a naturopathic medical doctor originally from New York. His mom, Mileidy, is a Central American immigrant who manages their thriving La Jolla practice. The couple met in Costa Rica, where Brayden’s dad was living with an indigenous tribe while researching medicinal plants.
The middle child, Brayden’s early passion was baseball, but at the age of 12, a production of Grease took his breath away. He kept his feelings to himself for fear of being mocked in the dugout. But a year later, after a girl he liked dared him to try out for the high school play, Brayden landed a lead role in the one-act.
Predictable ridicule from his teammates followed, but Brayden took it in stride. He tried out for more parts.
Acting came naturally to him. Building on innate talent, Brayden trained with seasoned drama coaches and voice teachers, fine-tuning his tenor to deliver everything from speech-level-singing to bel canto.
Soon he was nailing auditions in youth theaters and singing with elite choirs across San Diego. At 16, he started meeting with New York talent agents. His stage credits grew to more than 25 productions, including leads in Rent, Jesus Christ Superstar and Les Misérables. (You can watch Brayden’s highlight reel here).
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Then the pandemic landed, and the theaters went dark.
Isolated in lockdown, Brayden found consolation in songwriting. He possessed a strong music background, having played cello for years in the school orchestra. He added guitar, bass, piano and harmonica to his toolkit.
Instead of love songs and breakup ballads, Brayden composed political anthems. His narrative themes grew out of personal experience.
It wasn’t easy for the child of “a Bronx Jew and a Costa Rican immigrant” to grow up in Poway, he explains. “Don’t get me wrong: I love my home. But Poway is a conservative place. It feels like a little town in Texas that got dropped in California.”
The tragic 2019 synagogue shooting at Chabad of Poway touched Brayden personally.
“I grew up at that synagogue,” he says. “We went every weekend. The woman who died, Lori Kaye, was a good friend of my family.” Were it not for a Godspell rehearsal throwing the Handwergers behind schedule that April morning, they would have been in the sanctuary when the shooter—a local teen who’d been radicalized by neo-Nazi dogma—opened fire.
“It really changed my life,” Brayden says, of the hate-crime that drew national attention. “It showed how dangerous the rhetoric had become in America and how divided we’ve become as a society.”
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When Covid restrictions lifted, Brayden went back on stage. He started performing his protest songs as frontman for New Americana, the Heartland rock band he formed with friends. (You can see the band’s 2023 performance of “David’s Got a Handgun,” recorded in Santa Monica.)
“I began speaking publicly at concerts. Before I knew it, I had a crowd around me,” Brayden later wrote in the personal statement that helped him gain admission to Cornell. Wearing cowboy boots and draped in an American flag, Brayden talked about racial discrimination, income inequality and even Reaganomics. People were listening.
By the time Brayden learned he’d been admitted to New York University’s world-class dramatic arts program, he wasn’t so sure his future lay in the theater. When his parents balked at the six-figure price tag, he decided to take a gap-year to reflect.
Brayden found work as an entertainer and tour guide at Legoland. He moonlighted as a bookkeeper in his father’s medical practice. He continued to appear in professional theatrical productions and television shows. He gigged around Southern California as a solo musician and with his band.
“By the end of 2021, it was clear I’d never make enough to cover four years of NYU tuition,” Brayden recalls.
Feeling hazy about his life’s direction, he decided to let curiosity be his guide. So he enrolled at SMC.
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Brayden didn’t forsake the arts. From starring in the spring 2023 musical, he went on to sing all three years in the SMC Chamber Choir and the Jazz Vocal Ensemble. Off campus, he continued to perform as lead singer and general manager of New Americana.
He also began to explore alternative careers pathways, relying on Scholars Program counselors Audra Wells and Transfers faculty leader Dr. Janet Robinson to help chart the way forward.
On campus, he founded the Business of Entertainment and Media Club and created a related political blog. He served on the Associated Students election committee. Off campus, he became a volunteer lobbyist with Streets for All, a nonprofit devoted to urban mobility issues. Through the 2024 election cycle, he canvassed for the Democratic Party.
Last summer, the pieces came together. In what Brayden calls “a light-bulb moment,” he saw the common thread running through his artistic and intellectual interests: it was all about “political messaging.” With that insight, he became more intentional in his monologues during concerts. “I would compile talking points from the news of the week.”
In June, Brayden earned his AA in economics and political science. He’s now packing his things for Ithaca, New York. Come fall, he’ll begin upper-division coursework in an interdisciplinary major blending political science, public policy and government, business, economics and human resources.
After Cornell, Brayden hopes to gain real-world political experience as a congressional staffer, consultant or think-tanker before applying to law schools.
And he’s already warming up for his next act: taking LSAT practice tests and looking over FEC rules for registering as a congressional candidate.
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SMC in Focus Volume XI, Issue 4
Caregiver to Changemaker
Santa Monica College enabled David Duncan to get back on track, channeling his compassion into public policy and community impact—and earning a transfer to Stanford. Read Article
Reading “College Chemistry” in Tehran
As she packs her bags for Palo Alto, Ghazal Azhdari still can’t get over how many SMC people went out on a limb to help a newly arrived immigrant succeed beyond her wildest dreams. Read Article
A Lens-Based Celebration of Latinidad
A timely, major exhibition “Concrete Hope”, curated by Erika Hirugami, is coming to SMC’s Barrett Art Gallery, shining a spotlight on 38 Latine/x photographers and artists. Read Article
The Singing Congressman
From Broadway musicals to campaign hustings, Brayden Handwerger’s search for the spotlight changed dramatically over his three years at SMC. Read Article
Bragging Rights
An SMC Fashion alum to produce a look for Jayne Kennedy. A first-ever Barber Battle at SMC. Studying abroad in Paris. A “Systems Changer” Award for the college. Read Article
Startup Scholar
Youthful entrepreneur Magnus Melbourne found a launching pad to the Ivy League at Santa Monica College. Read Article