Why I Teach
Why I Teach: With Karen Brewster
After a successful career working in professional theater companies across the country, Karen Brewster returned to her alma mater in 2000 to share her love of theater with students.
Now the chair of the ETSU Department of Theatre and Dance, Brewster teaches courses in theater history and theatrical design.
One of the highlights of her almost 25-year teaching career has been the opening of the ETSU Martin Center for the Arts, which also houses the Bert C. Bach Theatre, a black box studio theater. During the 2022-23 season, the Department of Theatre and Dance sold out every performance of every show in the Bert C. Bach Theatre.
The new space has provided ETSU students with hands-on opportunities to hone their skills in a state-of-the-art theatrical environment. As a faculty member, Brewster had a seat at the table during the design phase of the Martin Center, and offered input on the placement of the scene shop and other technical aspects to ensure the space was functional for learning and performance.
“It is impossible to overstate this; it is a magnificent space,” Brewster said. “They are working in a state-of-the-art facility, so they will be ready to go out and work in any place they will be working.”
Students getting hands-on learning opportunities is at the core of ETSU’s approach to education.
After the success of last year’s sold-out season, Brewster is thinking about new opportunities and goals for the department.
“With time, when we’re ready to do this, we would love to do a large musical in the (Martin Center) Grand Hall,” Brewster said. “That’s going to take some time, working with the Department of Music and others.”
In the meantime, Brewster and the Theatre and Dance faculty are preparing for another busy year in the Bert C. Bach Theatre.
“I appreciate the ways ETSU and the community support the arts,” she said. “The arts provide a way for us to make sense of the world.”
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Professor Karen Brewster:
It is a magnificent space. It is a state-of-the-art space. The tools that the students need to learn to use. We now have the appropriate tools for them to learn.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Hi, I'm Kimberly McCorkle, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at East Tennessee State University. From the moment I arrived on this campus, I have been inspired by our faculty, their passion for what they do, their belief in the power of higher education, and the way they are transforming the lives of their students. This podcast is dedicated to them, our incredible faculty at ETSU. Hear their stories as they tell us Why I Teach. In this episode, we will talk with Professor Karen Brewster, chair of the ETSU Department of Theatre and Dance. An ETSU alumna, Professor Brewster studied under the esteemed Daryl and "Bud" Frank while earning her undergraduate degree. She then earned an MFA in costume design from Michigan State University, followed by years of working in professional theater companies.
After honing her talents as a professional artist, she joined the faculty at ETSU in 2000, where she now inspires students in her Theatre History and Theatrical Design courses. In 2017, Professor Brewster was named one of ETSU's Notable Women for her leadership, creativity, and commitment in the classroom and the community.
Enjoy the show. Professor Brewster, welcome to the show.
Professor Karen Brewster:
Thank you.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
I start my podcast with the same question for every guest. Take me back to your first day of teaching at ETSU as a faculty member. Looking back on that day, what is one piece of advice you would have given yourself?
Professor Karen Brewster:
That's a great question and thank you Provost McCorkle for inviting me today. And yeah, it's to think back, it was August from 2000. So that's been a while ago. But yeah, I think the advice I would give myself is maybe trust yourself. If I'm talking to myself, "Trust yourself. You'll be fine. And also trust the students." I have learned that trusting the students is really an important aspect to remember.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
That's wonderful. So, at ETSU, as you know, we place a premium on getting hands-on experiences for students. You, like so many others in your department, bring real-world experiences to the classroom. Tell us how that shapes the way that you teach.
Professor Karen Brewster:
It's everything we do. Everything we do is hands-on. We have, as you know, our residence currently is in the Bach Theatre there in the Martin Center for the Arts. And so it's essential for us, the hands-on. It really is what we're all about.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
And I'm certain that those hands-on experiences enhance their learning, prepare them for the what's next, right?
Professor Karen Brewster:
Absolutely. Absolutely. And as you mentioned in the intro, I had worked in professional theater for years before I came to ETSU, and I'm very happy to be here. And most of the people who work on the faculty and staff in our Department of Theatre and Dance have done substantial professional work outside. And so it's that, our experiences are hands-on, and so we bring that hands-on perspective to the classroom and to those laboratories that we work in.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Yeah. So congratulations are in order to the Department of Theatre and Dance: All of your theatrical performances sold out last year. Audiences enjoyed the performances in the Bert C. Bach Theatre in the new Martin Center for the Arts, which you just mentioned. How has the space at the Martin Center transformed the educational experience for our students and also for our community?
Professor Karen Brewster:
It is impossible to overstate this. It is a magnificent space. It is a state-of-the-art space.
The tools that the students need to learn to use. We now have the appropriate tools for them to learn with. And so they are working in a state-of-the-art facility. And so they'll be ready because they're working in this space to go out and work in any, any place that they end up working in. Often I give tours of the facility to potential parents and potential students.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Yes.
Professor Karen Brewster:
And what the space does, in addition to giving us a state-of-the-art facility to work in, is it signals to those potential parents, because they have said it to me repeatedly, that this is the support for the arts that the university provides, and it states, it really shows, the priority that the arts have for ETSU and for the administration. And we're greatly appreciative of that.
And that's important as well. But we can't overstate the importance of that space and that facility to us and to our program.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Well, that's wonderful. And I know you had the unique experience as a faculty member of helping to design that space.
Professor Karen Brewster:
We did.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Talk a little bit about that.
Professor Karen Brewster:
Oh, that's wonderful. Yeah. And we feel very privileged. Again, thank you to the ETSU leadership to allow us to have a seat at the table when the building was being planned. Because that has made all the difference for us. And when again, when I give those tours to parents and students, I talk about, you know, we had input in the way this is arranged, the way the scene shop is, the placement of the scene shop next to the performance space. We had input for that, and it was very important, and it makes it a very functional space. The fact that the end users had input there is really impressive, and we're thankful for that.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Well, I've had the wonderful pleasure of attending many performances in the Bach Theatre with Dr. Bach in attendance.
Professor Karen Brewster:
Always thrilled to have you all. He's been such a wonderful supporter of the programs and of the arts. It's great for him to be able to see the facility. He's such an enthusiastic theater audience member, and he's very, very knowledgeable. Yeah. I'm always impressed with him.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Me too.
Professor Karen Brewster:
And appreciative of him.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Can you share any insights on the role of theater in society and its potential impact on students' lives?
Professor Karen Brewster:
Well, you know, we've seen it with this COVID thing we've just been through, how critical the arts are for society and for our students. The arts give us an opportunity to kind of make sense of what's happening around the world. All the arts too, not just theater, but all the arts that we have here on campus. And we have tremendous units that practice arts and teach arts here on campus. And what the arts do is they provide a way for us to make sense of the world. And when you think about the critical events that are happening currently and what we've just been through, the arts are central, and our students enthusiastically go, come to us, go to the arts, and want to participate because it's necessary, it's needed. And as audience members, as art makers, but also as audience members.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Yeah.
Professor Karen D. Brewster:
We really need the arts, and I'm thrilled that ETSU supports it.What teaching methods or techniques do you find most effective in engaging students in the study of theater? Well, it really is that hands-on thing, and the students really respond to it. And again, what we do is such a collaborative hands-on art form, and we are, theater, particularly, and dance as well, we are a collaborative art form. And it's transient, meaning it, what you see tonight, if we have a run of a show, tonight's performance may be very different than tomorrow's performance. You know, we have plans that are hoping this to be similar, but each one is transient and its own thing. And so I think that that hands-on experience that we provide students and the way we teach in a hands-on manner is essential for making them ready, making them ready to go out into the world and be theater makers on their own.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
So when we watch a show in the Bach Theatre, students have designed all those sets, right?
Professor Karen Brewster:
Absolutely.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Yeah. And the costumes?
Professor Karen Brewster:
Yes, we are, we are student, we always say that we're student-focused and student-driven and student-centered. But yeah, we have faculty mentors, but we, everything that is done on stage and behind the scenes is really student-driven.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
That's great. So there have certainly been changes in the way that people produce and consume art and entertainment in recent years. Has that sort of impacted the way that you determine which shows that you want to bring here? Are you thinking about what that might mean for audiences, for our students who are presenting the shows?
Professor Karen Brewster:
Absolutely. And we have actually a play-reading committee that is comprised of students
as well as faculty and staff. And we read a lot of plays every year as we're making our decisions on what we're going to do for the following year.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Yeah.
Professor Karen Brewster:
And we take a lot of things into account, like what's good for our students coming up, what is doable in the Bach Theatre? Because we have to consider the space. But also what do audiences want to see, what is relevant to our times because we want to be relevant. And so we have a lot of things we want to take into account.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Yeah.
Professor Karen Brewster:
It is a challenge because theater is, it's time, a time-consuming process to create a theatrical production. And I think that actually we see this in our students, that the students appreciate and are really kind of hungry for that kind of process because we live in a digital age, right? And so theater is really a little more, you know, if we're doing it right, and we're taking our time to put that together. And so that can be a challenge. But also, I think that once people understand that, they embrace it because I think we do have a hunger for that kind of experience.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Yeah.
Professor Karen Brewster:
We're kind of missing that, I think. Yeah, we think about that very deeply.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Are you able to share a preview of what's to come this upcoming year?
Professor Karen Brewster:
Well yes, actually, the shows that are coming up, we usually, actually what we're doing that's different this year or kind of a signal of growth for us, we have our new Musical Theatre program, which started in fall 2019, headed by Dr. Brad Fugate. And of course, it started just before the pandemic. And so we we are a little bit slow out of the gate just because we initiated the program just before the pandemic. But now we are seeing it, which I knew it would, grow, starting to grow very quickly. And Dr. Fugate's done a wonderful job with that. And where we in the past, we did one musical a year, and now we're going this coming year, we're going to do two musicals, a musical in the fall and a musical in the spring.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Wonderful.
Professor Karen Brewster:
And so we have two straight plays, as they're known, or nonmusical shows, next year, and then two musicals. And so in the fall, we're doing "These Shining Lives," which is a straight play about, it's also the story of Radium Girls. Some people might be familiar with that.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Yeah.
Professor Karen Brewster:
Young women, based on a true story, that painted the clock faces using toxic materials, and it ended up causing them to lose their lives as a result or have drastic problems with health.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Yeah.
Professor Karen Brewster:
And so that's the first story. And the second one is "James and the Giant Peach," the musical.
Dr. Kimberly McCorkle:
Oh, wonderful.
Professor Karen Brewster:
Which is a theater for youth. We try to maintain theater for youth presence on our stages, and we have a close relationship with University School, and they usually come over to see what we do, but we also invite other area schools to come to see the show. And so that's for fall. And in the spring we're doing "Eurydice," in the winter, which is based on Greek mythology.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Yes.
Professor Karen Brewster:
And that will be directed by Dr. Ante Ursic, our new Physical Theatre professor, and he has some very interesting things planned, including wire walking and maybe aerial silks use.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Is that right? Wonderful. How exciting.
Professor Karen Brewster:
And then the final musical is "Heathers," which I think a lot of students are excited about doing, and that will be directed by Melissa Shafer.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Wonderful.
Professor Karen Brewster:
And Dr. Brad Fugate will be doing musical direction for both of our musicals. So we're looking forward to it. We did "A Little Shop of Horrors" last spring, and it was very well-received.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Yes, fantastic. Oh, I'm really excited. It sounds like a great set of performances. Can you share an example of a particularly memorable or transformative teaching moment that you've had while at ETSU?
Professor Karen Brewster:
Maybe not a particular moment, but I can talk about, I'll be happy to talk about, as you said in the introduction, I had worked in professional theater before I came to ETSU, and when I first came, I was the costume designer. Our department was in a unit in the Department of Communication, and now we're our stand-alone department, as you, as you stated. And so I was a costume design professor and also did theater teaching. But I ran the costume shop, and it was the first time we actually had a producing costume shop on campus.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Yes.
Professor Karen Brewster:
And we see that as a learning laboratory. And at that time, it was located in Brooks Gym. And so that was every afternoon from 1 to 5, I was overseeing that costume shop. And so I'd come from doing professional costume shop supervision. And then I came onto campus and created a professionally modeled costume shop and spent my afternoons overseeing that shop. And so we have all of our students that come through the program, and we currently have our shops in the Martin Center that are run by wonderful people. The costume director is Beth Skinner, and the technical director is Zach Olsen, and they run it full time. But at the time with Melissa Shafer, we were running shops side-by-side in Brooks. And so I, I just spent my afternoon with the students, and every student came through there.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Yes.
Professor Karen Brewster:
They were either work study or they were laboratory students or they were taking classes in other ways. And so just that experience working hands-on with the students and utilizing that professional experience that I'd just come from was very special time.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
I'm certain that stands out.
Professor Karen Brewster:
It does.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Yeah. Great memory. As I noted in the introduction, you had the opportunity to study under Daryl and "Bud" Frank while you were earning your undergraduate degree here. Can you tell us a little bit about that experience?
Professor Karen Brewster:
"Bud" and Daryl Frank, even though I call them Mr. and Mrs. Frank, even now. I can't, I never call them by their first names. But, but they had such an impact on every student that they had contact with. Every student I've ever spoken to since I've become chair of the department, I sometimes talk to alumni who were here with them when I wasn't here, at other times, everyone has the same response when they talk about those two. Mrs. Frank, who I call her Mrs. Frank, they're no longer with us; they both have passed on. But I kept contact with her all the way until she passed away just a few years ago. And Mr. Frank as well. They were just, just so interested in their students. We believe in the students so greatly, and we have such interest in our students currently. And they were great models for that. And they did that as well. They would open up their homes to students, their home to students. They would, you know, actually took students in when they needed it, fed students when they needed to be fed.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Yes.
Professor Karen Brewster:
And they were tremendous theater artisans themselves and were great role models for the theater. I couldn't have asked for better mentors.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
But what a great legacy for the department here, right?
Professor Karen Brewster:
Yeah.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Thank you.
Professor Karen Brewster:
Thank you.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
So I have to ask, of all the performances that you have been a part of here, is there a favorite? Do you have one or a couple that stand out?
Professor Karen Brewster:
It is so, a lot of times I know my colleagues and I will talk about this. It's a common kind of question that people will ask. What is the favorite thing you've ever done?
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Yes.
Professor Karen Brewster:
And it's really hard. And we all kind of agree it's hard to pick one because as theater professionals, we see each one as a kind of a unique entity in itself. Yes. I will definitely say that the one we just completed, "A Little Shop of Horrors," that was because of the success of it.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Yes.
Professor Karen Brewster:
And every aspect of it seemed to work well.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
Yes.
Professor Karen Brewster:
And also the audience response to it. I certainly would put that high on the list. It's great.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
So, related to that, is there a play that you would like to do that you have on your planning or hope list that you hope that we get to that that we haven't done yet?
Professor Karen Brewster:
With time. Yeah. We, we would like to, and it will take some time when we're ready to do this. We would love to do a large musical in the Grand Hall. You know, currently we're in the Bach Theatre, which we love; we love working there. But if we could mount a larger musical in the Grand Hall for the sake of our students, that would be wonderful. And that's going to take some time and planning, working with the Department of Music and others. And with time, we're going to hopefully do that.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
That's exciting. That's great. Finally, Karen, what impact do you hope that you've made on your students?
Professor Karen Brewster:
When I think of contact with students that I have here at ETSU, what I'd love for them to take away is not just from myself, but from the whole department, is I want them to, we believe in them. We believe in our students. And I want them to understand that we do believe and value them. That's first and foremost. And we want also want them to understand the arts and the value for the arts and to go away from that, no matter what they end up doing in life, to take that value of the arts and to take what they can do artistically into their lives in whatever way that means and just believe in themselves. So they take that belief that we have in them and personalize it and take it away and just believe in what they can do and the impact that they can have on the future.
Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle:
That's great. Thank you, Karen. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the creative work of you and the Department of Theatre and Dance and all of your colleagues on stage at the Martin Center in the Bach Theatre, and I appreciate your leadership and commitment to the students at ETSU. Thanks for listening to "Why I Teach." For more information about Professor Brewster, the Department of Theatre and Dance, or this podcast series, visit the ETSU Provost website at ETSU dot edu slash Provost. You can follow me on Twitter at ETSU Provost, and if you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to like and subscribe to "Why I Teach" wherever you listen to podcasts.