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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 2000)
New associate professor well-versed in voice By Shelley Mika Staff writer Stan Brown has appeared on television, in movies, has worked with the director of voice at the Royal Shakespeare Company in England and has a reputation as an aficionado in the spe cialization of voice for the actor. Sounds like a good candidate to visit the Lied Center. But instead of being a guest, Brown will soon make a home in Lincoln. Beginning this August, Brown will take a position at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as an Associate Professor ofTheater Arts with a specialization in voice and acting. Brown fills the position currently held by Visiting Professor Virginia Ness Ray, and for merly held by Kevin Paul Hofeditz, an assistant dean in the College of Fine and Performing Arts. “He has superior credentials in our field,” said Jeff Elwell, chairman of the UNL Department of Theatre Arts and executive director of the Nebraska Repretory Theatre. In fact, the list of credits following Brown’s name is about a mile long. At the University of South Carolina, Brown earned his Bachelor of Arts in Theater in 1984 as well as his Master of Fine Arts in Acting in 1989. Before earning his MFA, Brown was named a Graduate Fellow in 1988 at the Shakespeare Theater at the Folger in Washington, DC. During Brown’s one year of intensive train ing in classical acting, voice, movement and directing, he had die opportunity to work with professional directors and actors. He also visit ed full-time faculty from such renowned schools as Julliard, Yale Drama School, Princeton and the O’Neill Center. Following his studies in the United States, Brown went on to conduct postgraduate research at Warwick University in England. While in the UK, Brown studied contempo rary directorial approaches to and perceptions of Shakespeare in performance, focusing pri marily on the works ofPeter Brook of the Royal Shakespeare Theater in Stratford-upon-Avon. “My primary orientation to theater is act ing; that is, I trained and worked as an actor before going into voice,” Brown said in an e mail interview. For the past 15 years, Brown has been a pro fessional actor, working both in the United States and in the UK. He has appeared on such television shows as “In the Heat of the Night” and “Homicide: • Life on the Street” He has appeared in the films “Modem Love” and “Getting In,” directed by Doug Liman and starring then-unknowns such as Matthew Perry and Calista Flockhart. Perhaps one of the most impressive portions ofBrown’s long r£sum6 is his work with Cicely Berry, the director of voice at the Royal Shakespeare Company in England who, as Elwell said, “is probably one of die world’s leading authorities on voice for die stage.” Brown said he continues to work with Berry. “My work with her has been ongo ing since April of 1990 when I met her on a train bound for London. What made that meeting seem so predestined is that I was reading one of her books on the train and sitting right across the aisle from her at the time,” Brown said. Even though Berry is one of Brown’s mentors, he said she pushes •' him to do his own work. “She has encouraged and chal lenged me to be as unique and original - . as possible in developing my work,” Brown said. “She always urges me to * * not parrot the unquestioned and there- * fore, the uninvestigated work of others. “She even discourages me from watching her own work sometimes, which always feels like a little push out of the nest.” Brown said he hopes to bring Berry % to UNL to meet his students. “I know (meeting her) will change their lives,” Brown said. Brown said he didn’t know any specific things he would work to change at UNL, but would instead take things as they come. “I can’t say what I’d change,” Brown said. “I wish to contribute a progressive and creative voice training for our actors. Hopefully that focus will yield any changes that might need to occur.” One of Brown’s areas of expertise are his approaches to the multi-cultural voice. “I focus a great deal on the multicultural influences and impacts on foe development of the English language,” Brown said. “How the mainstream can even be the mainstream if its existence depends on exclusion o hies.” '. One of foe reasons Brown said he took foe position at UNL was because of the artistic free dom it allowed. “I suppose one of the main things that attracted me to UNL was the faculty and admin istration!! sensitivity to the artist’s need to con tinue working as an artist,” Brown said. In addition, Brown said his decision was also based on working with the theater depart ment’s faculty. .. .r.A “I was extremely impressed to see the head of foe acting program (Shirley Carr-Mason) acting in a production when I came to visit the campus last year,” he said. “What’s more, I was thrilled she was a fabulous actor. One wants to work with talented people; people who still sense and pursue the importance of working in their profession as a means of developing as an artist and a j teacher. I look * forward to striking that balance in my own lifeatUNL.” Elwell said he thinks . Brown will be able to strike r.that balance. “He’s a fantastic teacher and a great direc tor,” he said. “One of his references said he was prob- * ably in the top 20 in the coun try in his field. That’s his rep utation. m In addition to being a rep-8 utable actor, teacher and direc tor, Brown is also a family man. Both his wife, Alisa Belflower, and his 7-year-old son, Nicolas, will be making the move to Lincoln with Brown. “We’re all very excited to be mov ing to Lincoln,” Brown said. “We look forward to becoming a part of what we perceive as a very potent arts communi Melanie Falk/DN .. £ / ' - • ... . ..... . . - .. ' * ■ Christian band Waterdeep strives to share message through music By JJ. Harder Senior editor Waterdeep is one of those bands music stores probably hate. Stores can’t put its CDs in the rock category. And its sound isn’t totally folk. But it definitely deserves to be recognized in the funk section, too. No one can quite put the band in a defined category - even the band members. “We’ve got this acoustic, atmos pheric thing, this folk, songwriter thing and this straight-ahead fierce, rock, funk thing,” said Don Chaffer, Waterdeep lead singer and guitarist. “Our sound is kind of retro-influ enced modem rock.” Waterdeep formed in 1995. Chaffer and his wife, Lori, had been involved in scattered music projects before, and the band came together after meeting at a coffeehouse. Along with drummer Brandon Graves, his wife, Christena Chaffer, on keyboards and bassist Kenny Carter, the Chaffers have been touring the country almost non-stop for five years. After more than 40,000 copies of the band’s four independent releases were sold, the band members say they still get little respect from the major labels. * - But band members say they have hopes of being signed to a big-time label in the future. “I think we’d like to (get signed), but we’re not sure when that will hap pen,” Don Chaffer said. “You really have tjb focus your efforts in that direction and make some sacrifices.” Despite the lack of national atten tion, Waterdeep has maintained its focus of playing to college audiences across the South and Midwest. Don Chaffer said the college crowd seems to tune into Waterdeep because it offers something live that most bands can’t. “There is a spontaneous feel to the shows that contributes to the atmos phere,” he said. “With everything so scripted anymore today, it’s nice to run into somebody that improvises.” The improvisation is probably Waterdeep’s strongest talent. The band’s shows can include medleys, lengthy jam sessions and covers. Waterdeep’s version of Bob Dylan’s “Att Along the Watchtower” gives fire to the song, similar to the h ri fi. xis powerful adaptation by Jimi Hendrix, Don Chaffer said. The fuel behind Waterdeep’s pas sion for endless touring and intense concerts is the band’s desire to make the audience members feel alive. “Life is a consistent reality, and we numb ourselves to it,” Don Chaffer said. “We want people to be more connected to their own lives and have people feel in touch with God in a good way.” All the band members are Christians, but Don Chaffer says his faith channels into emotions to which everyone can connect. “We started writing songs about die emotions of life, rather than being a Christian or Buddhist or anything. They aren’t religious, but faith in Christ is where it comes from.” courtesy rnoto The members of Waterdeep perfonn In the Nebraska Union tonight.