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.
