Brian and Terrena Mann are shown with son Bryson after their performance at Greene Street Market in Huntsville. Terrena Mann owns Hopefool Productions. (Photo by Joanna White)

MADISON – Terrena Mann offers private lessons in music and acting with her studio, Hopefool Productions.

“In high school, I dropped my last name and performed as ‘Terrena Hope,'” she said. Years later, a videographer asked for her name while she performed with a band in Tennessee. “I wanted to stick with something that had ‘Hope.'”

Hopefool Production students can enroll in beginner piano and guitar lessons. For acting, beginner to advanced students will learn techniques and stage movement while receiving vocal coaching and audition preparation.

As a 14-year-old, Mann began writing songs, performing professionally and was a contestant on “Ed McMahon’s Star Search” in 1993. One summer, she studied voice and dance in San Antonio, Texas while performing at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. After high school, she continued studies while entertaining at Dollywood and other East Tennessee venues.

Moving to California in 1998, Mann was hired at Stock Center for the Performing Arts to teach musical theater. In 2007, the Manns moved to Madison to live closer to relatives in Nashville.

When her son Bryson was a kindergartner at Columbia Elementary School, Mann started the Drama Club, which she led four years. During summers, parents requested private lessons. After about two years, she opened Hopefool Productions.

Mann’s private studio is located in Madison near County Line Road. She accommodates students’ schedules between 2:30 and 6 p.m., Tuesday through Friday.

She feels fortunate to be friends or theatre collaborators with several local arts instructors. “Anyone seeking arts education should shop around and find a perfect fit,” Mann said.

Her experience spans all musical genres, so Mann believes she is “cognizant of choosing a style that best suits my students’ individual capabilities.”

With arts education, “students become more confident, less stressed and more outgoing. The arts inspire … out-of-the-box thinking (for success) in a group, public speaking or careers requiring self-expression.”

Her husband Brian teaches guitar and works as a systems engineer. Eleven-year-old Bryson is a sixth-grade home-schooler. Terrena also teaches at Fantasy Playhouse Children’s Theater.

For more information, email to hopefoolproductions@gmail.com or visit Facebook/Hopefool Productions.