Courtesy of www.F. Reed Brown.com
The Cerritos College Theatre Department has selected Professor Reed Brown as the latest addition in the acting and directing disciplines of the arts program.
Aside from being an acting professor, he is also an actor, director, choreographer and artistic director.
Born in Tampa, Florida, Brown never imagined a future in Theatre. As a former Lacrosse player in college, he had to make a decision whether he would continue playing for the team or take the opportunity to take the casting for the play, ‘Rhymers of Elridch’ by Lanford Wilson, one of his favorite playwrights.
Acting had become his passion, he chose Theatre, and never looked back; he decided he was destined to be an actor and became a Theatre major.
Traveling was one of the great perks of being an actor. He started to network with people in New York City and began the start of his promising future.
Teaching was not out of the ordinary for Brown. He was always getting hired as a guest director or adjunct professor, and realized he had a lot to teach. This decision sparked desire and ambition for Reed Brown to receive his Master of Fine Arts in directing from Illinois State University at such a late point in his acting career.
Brown felt he had to work many years in Theatre in order for him to be able to teach to students. He had to learn and be involved to pass his knowledge on to his scholars.
As an applicant for the position, Brown went through the interview process while being on a family trip in Kentucky. He received a phone call from the Department Chair of Theatre, Susan Watanabe, to receive the news of his deserving position..
“He’s very nice and he really wants the department to thrive. He’s been great so far, the students like his class and are excited to have him, ” Watanabe said.
Watanabe acknowledged that Reed Brown is the first full-time professor in over a year in their department.
Growing up, Brown traveled from place to place. Although he was born in Florida, he was raised in New Jersey, so the change from the east coast to west coast in California is not a surprise.
Before taking the position at Cerritos College, Brown was involved in various theatre groups such as the Freed-Yorick Theatre Ensemble, and he co-founded the Ozark Actors Theatre in Missouri.
Brown is credited with has over 80 productions in his career.
He revealed one of the main reasons he found Theatre exciting was the opportunity to be diverse characters. Living in the east coast deprived Brown from meeting all kinds of people from every nationality. When he heard of Cerritos College, where the majority of the population is almost equally divided from every ethnic group, Brown believed he would enjoy working in this culturally diverse area.
“I am very impressed with the talent of the professors, they’re very knowledgeable and amazing in theatre and film,” she said.
This semester, Brown will be teaching two courses in his department. The courses are Intermediate Acting and Stage Movement and Combat.
Intermediate Acting teaches students to build realistic characters and learn to perform good storytelling on stage. Movement and combat on the other hand, is an art form that teaches safe violence on stage, making the audience believe something on stage is violent but in reality it is quite safe.
He is thrilled about his position on campus, and open to new projects to see where his career might go outside of academics in Los Angeles.
