KAILEEN KELLY
Staff Writer
Shakespeare wrote, “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances.”
Pepperdine’s stage is undergoing a scene transition not unlike the one from “As You Like It” as some fine professors make their exits of the Fine Arts Division and new professors enter with an enthusiasm for change.
Professors Benoit Beauchamp and A. Bryan Humphrey are two professors who arrived in Fall 2007 to Pepperdine full of passion for their art. They conclude this year with a renewed love of theater and a respect for the Pepperdine community.
Beauchamp is teaching this semester’s Stage Management and Stagecraft class. He also has been involved in the plays “The Empire Builders,” “The Laramie Project,” “The Bartered Bride,” and “Hamlet.”
Beauchamp has a lot of experience to share with Pepperdine. He has been involved in many theaters doing jobs in different areas of theatre. His most recent job was as a technical director at The Paramount Theatre, a theater in Charlottesville, Va.
This school year is Beauchamp’s first full-time employment as a teacher, though he has teaching experience from the California Institute of the Arts and Stony Brook University. Beauchamp says teaching full-time in addition to balancing his involvement with the school’s plays is his greatest challenge.
“Trying to do all the work that needs to get done, in terms of building a play, and designing…is really hard to do,” Beauchamp said.
Another challenge Beauchamp said he faced was the lack of a mentor in the same field as him.
“There is no other design faculty here. I found it would have helped to have someone to have a conversation with on how to reach the students,” Beauchamp said.
Despite the challenges, Beauchamp is enjoying his year at Pepperdine. He says that he feels this year has been enlightening.
“Working here has been a very valuable lesson and learning experience,” Beauchamp said. “It has made me appreciate how hard teaching is.”
Beauchamp has also discerned more about his passions.
“It has made me realize that I am much more interested in the design aspect than the technical aspect.”
Beauchamp employed his enthusiasm for design to create the scenery for the upcoming opera, “The Bartered Bride,” that premiered Feb. 28 and will continue to show on March 1. He says that this scenery is one of his favorite accomplishments while he has been at Pepperdine.
“It looked very cool and very different from most operas that you would see,” Beauchamp said.
The opera was beautiful with detailed surroundings such as tall sunflowers sprouting in the background and vines of flowers twining the railings. The constructions were realistically built and the whole effect was charming.
In addition to the scenery, Beauchamp’s accomplishments also are with the students.
“Most rewarding is to see the progression of the students in terms of how they are doing in class,” Beauchamp said.
Beauchamp says that working in the Fine Arts Division at Pepperdine has been a great experience.
“Pepperdine is a great school and I admire Cathy Thomas-Grant (Chair of the Fine Arts Division),” Beauchamp said. “I would love to work with her again.”
Professor A. Bryan Humphrey is, like Beauchamp, a visiting professor for this year. He is, however, no stranger to teaching. Humphrey has taught at Southwestern Theological Seminary, the University of Colorado, the University of Northern Colorado and Ohio University. Before teaching, Humphrey and his wife created a small touring company called PARABLE that preformed across America and overseas in Europe and Japan. Humphrey has not taught since 1999, so he faced a lot of adjustment this past year.
“My first year has been full,” Humphrey said.
“Teaching undergraduates, freshmen in particular, is always an exciting challenge, but especially so after being out of the classroom for so long.”
Humphrey revealed that his most difficult challenges were letting his students and himself discover and learn things on their own.
“I believe in pushing both the student and myself to ‘find out for yourself’ about everything. Ultimately, only what you find out for yourself is real…but it is where we often stumble,” Humphrey said.
Similarly, he said his greatest accomplishments were in being quiet.
“I like allowing a student to find the solution to something on stage for him or herself,” Humphrey said.
Humphrey says that he has had a good experience at Pepperdine so far.
“I was treated with kindness, patience, and understanding for my condition as a new professor by my colleagues and students,” Humphrey said.
Humphrey agrees with Beauchamp that what he likes most about teaching at Pepperdine are the students. The students have also responded positively to Humphrey’s different style of teaching.
“He is really innovative and makes you really think,” said Taylor Kruse, who took his Movement class in Fall 2007. “He leaves things up to the student to figure out.”
Humphrey has been occupied with directing the Pepperdine performance of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” that is performing in Smothers Theatre April 8 through 12.
Though Beauchamp and Humphrey are exiting Pepperdine’s stage, they are definitely not exiting the theatre’s stage.
Beauchamp says he plans on doing a lot more designing, working more with dance companies, and teaching classes on design. Humphrey is going to continue teaching at a job in Penn State University and acting in a nine-person version of “Camelot” with the Pennsylvania Centre Stage.
Beauchamp and Humphrey encourage students and professors to come and see the performances of “Hamlet” they and the students have toiled over.
04-17-2008
