Shelby County Today

January 25, 2018 - Heaven Umbrell was 10 years old when she helped her grandmother, a gerontologist, conduct research in cemeteries. Years later, Umbrell now brings her children along when she engages in research at Nacogdoches' historic Oak Grove Cemetery.

Umbrell, a Stephen F. Austin State University history graduate student, is working alongside members of the Friends of Historic Nacogdoches to create an index and map of Oak Grove Cemetery. She also is making a grid map of plots and digitizing written records of the people buried there.

When members of the Friends of Historic Nacogdoches contacted Dr. Perky Beisel, SFA associate professor of history, about some endeavors they hoped to accomplish at the cemetery, Beisel immediately thought of Umbrell.

“This type of work gives graduate students practical experience,” Beisel said. “It also demonstrates what SFA’s Department of History can help accomplish.”

Oak Grove Cemetery was originally named America’s Cemetery. It spans 12.7 acres and contains an estimated 1,000 gravesites. Many gravesites contain the remains of notable historical figures such as Thomas J. Rusk, a political and military leader of the Republic of Texas who served as its first secretary of war and as a general in the Battle of San Jacinto. Rusk was later a U.S. politician and served as a senator from Texas.

Other important historical figures buried at Oak Grove include Dr. Robert A. Irion, who was Sam Houston’s personal physician, and four signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Hundreds of tourists visit the cemetery each year.

An additional goal of the Friends of Nacogdoches is to obtain signage for each gravesite. “My research will give cemetery visitors access to these men and women and help tell their stories,” Umbrell said.

Umbrell expects to complete her portion of research by the end of spring 2018. Friends of Historic Nacogdoches anticipate the full project to be completed by the end of the year.

By Emily Brown, marketing communications specialist for Stephen F. Austin State University.

January 23, 2018 Nacogdoches – In 2018, America and the world will mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The College of Fine Arts and the Office of Multicultural Affairs at Stephen F. Austin State University, along with L.A. Theatre Works, will anticipate the anniversary with a touring presentation of the internationally acclaimed play “The Mountaintop,” written by Katori Hall and directed by multiple award-winner Shirley Jo Finney.

The performance is part of the College of Fine Arts’ University Series and will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus.

“This play takes us back, not to the idealism of ‘I have a dream,’ but to the contentious racial and class issues, the questions of conflict and social justice that led to Dr. King’s murder, and that still haunt America,” said Scott Shattuck, associate dean of the College of Fine Arts and director of the University Series. “It does so in fanciful and even shocking ways that no audience member would anticipate.

“We are grateful to present this controversial play in association with SFA’s Office of Multicultural Affairs under the leadership of Veronica Beavers,” Shattuck continued.  “As Black History Month begins, we hope that this performance will stimulate important dialogue among students and other audience members that may not have attended University Series events in the past.”

On the evening of April 4, 1968, less than 24 hours after his famed “I’ve been to the mountaintop” speech, Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered outside Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. In “The Mountaintop,” Hall fantasizes an unexpected conversation inside that room on the night before the assassination.

Recipient of London’s 2010 Olivier Award for Best New Play, Hall’s gripping re-imagining of events is “rife with humanity and humor as the great civil rights leader reveals his hopes, regrets and fears to a motel housekeeper that seems inconsequential, at first, to his destiny,” according to Shattuck.

“It was really important for me to show the human side of King,” playwright Hall said. ”During this time, he was dealing with the heightened threat of violence, he was tackling issues beyond civil rights – economic issues – and was denouncing the Vietnam War. So I wanted to explore the emotional toll and the stress of that. King changed the world, but he was not a deity. He was a man, a human being, like me and you. So it was important to show him as such: vulnerable.”

“The Mountaintop” stars Gilbert Glenn Brown (CBS TV’s “The Inspectors,” upcoming feature film “The Best of Enemies”) and Karen Malina White (“The Cosby Show,” “A Different World,” “Malcolm and Eddie”). The production will travel to 38 cities across the United States. “The Mountaintop” contains mature language and controversial themes.

For three decades, L.A. Theatre Works has been the leading radio theater company in the United States, committed to using innovative technologies to preserve and promote significant works of dramatic literature and bringing live theater into the homes of millions. The company’s public radio series, featuring stage plays performed by America's top actors augmented by interviews with the artists and others, can be heard on public radio stations across the U.S. The producing director is Susan Albert Loewenberg.

L.A. Theatre Works’ national touring program brings audiences at venues across the country the experience of a “live-in-performance” radio drama. Since 2005, L.A. Theatre Works has visited over 300 civic, performing arts and university venues. They last visited the SFA campus with “Dracula” in 2016.

Prior to the performance, Cleo House, director of the SFA School of Theatre, will present an informative talk at 7 p.m. in Griffith Gallery. The gallery is located across the hall from Turner Auditorium, which is inside the Griffith Fine Arts Building, 2222 Alumni Drive.

Single event ticket prices for the University Series are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors and $10 for non-SFA students/youth. Tickets for SFA students are $3.

For more information, visit finearts.sfasu.edu, stop by the Fine Arts Box Office in Room 211 of the Griffith Fine Arts Building, or call (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS.

January 18, 2018 - A faculty recital by Dr. Brad Meyer, director of percussion studies at Stephen F. Austin State University, has been rescheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

Originally scheduled for Tuesday night, Jan. 16, Meyer’s recital was canceled because of the university’s closure due to inclement weather.

Meyer will perform “Mourning Dove Sonnet” by Christopher Deane, “Stop Speaking” by Andy Akiho and “Intersection Lines” from Meyer’s own composition, “Seven Images for Solo Concert Snare Drum.” Other selections to be performed include “Roar” from John Luther Adams’ “Mathematics of Resonant Bodies” and “Madera Viento y Metal” by Alejandro Viñao.

Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.

January 11, 2018 – The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music will present faculty member Dr. Brad Meyer performing a recital at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, January 16, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

Meyer, director of percussion studies at SFA, will perform “Mourning Dove Sonnet” by Christopher Deane, “Stop Speaking” by Andy Akiho and “Intersection Lines” from Meyer’s own composition, “Seven Images for Solo Concert Snare Drum.” Other selections to be performed include “Roar” from John Luther Adams’ “Mathematics of Resonant Bodies” and “Madera Viento y Metal” by Alejandro Viñao.

In Deane’s “Mourning Dove Sonnet” for vibraphone, the composer requires a performer to employ both standard performance techniques, as well as progressive procedures such as bowing of the bars with bass bows, producing harmonics of certain notes, and bending the pitches of bars, Meyers explained.

“Seven Images” was composed after Meyer returned from a clinic and performance tour in Slovenia where he visited a modern art museum in Ljubljana.

“As soon as I entered the museum, I was immediately captivated by several large-scale installations,” Meyer said. “These installations stayed in my memory long after I had left Slovenia. Because of my fascination with the museum and its art, I decided to create seven snare drum solos based off of seven of the most memorable installations and pieces of art I witnessed.”

“Stop Speaking” is a contemporary piece for solo snare drum and digital playback. It was commissioned for the 2011 Modern Snare Drum Competition hosted by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

Viñao used electronic sounds to extend and transform the resonance and timbre of the marimba for “Madera Viento y Metal.”

“The harmonies in ‘Madera Viento y Metal’ follow not only the logic of the notes and scales on which the piece is based, but are also dictated by the colors and resonances resulting from the interaction between the marimba and the electronics sounds I created for this work,” the composer writes. “This interaction is dynamic, changing from moment to moment as the music unfolds.”

The recital is part of the School of Music’s Calliope Concert Series.

Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.