By Lauren Wolf

Thank goodness Brant Pope couldn’t hit a curve ball. As a child growing up in suburban Minneapolis, Pope realized his future would not be in professional baseball. He instead chose to pursue theater —“The Crucible” instead of third base — and that is where his journey to UT began.

Photo by John Foxworth

As the new chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance, Pope comes to the position having played the role of actor, teacher, theater manager, director, writer and academic. He started off — like a lot of professional actors — doubting the possibility of making it in the field. After graduating from the University of Minnesota, Pope worked in business for a few years before he was drawn back to his real calling. He went on to earn his master’s degree in acting from the University of Connecticut. Then, like so many actors do, he struggled in New York and took some bad acting classes before being introduced to the Meisner Technique of actor training. It resonated deeply with him and led to his passion for training actors.

“Great actors are people who can use themselves truthfully. They have that authentic core of themselves that’s at the core of everything they do,” Pope said.

Take, for instance, actor William H. Macy. Pope recalls taking his mother to see the film “Fargo” in which Macy plays a crooked car dealer. Afterward, Pope’s mother said she enjoyed the actor, but it seemed like they just hired a used car dealer.

“Those great actors make it look so simple,” he said. “Bill Macy keeps his core and uses it in a whole lot of different circumstances.”

A sense of his genuine core comes out when talking to Pope. In person, one sees through his humble disposition that he is also a visionary and a relentlessly positive individual with an eye for the potential in all things. Perhaps these characteristics come from his early days of striving as an actor in New York or from years of teaching other actors to fine-tune their talents. It might just be the result of his very “Prairie Home Companion” Minnesota upbringing. Whatever the case, Pope saw the open chair position at UT as an opportunity to actualize the program’s tremendous potential.

“From the outset this job is famous. This is the largest theater department in the United States, and it’s the most challenging theater department in the United States,” Pope said.  “The position was certainly coveted, and I’m just thrilled to be here.”

The challenge facing UT’s department is in part that it is both theater and dance combined. With its large size comes more decisions to be made. The challenges are made easier, though, by a faculty that has reinforced Pope’s positive preconceived notions about the University. He was already acquainted with many faculty members from researching playwright Arthur Miller at the Ransom Center for his doctorate and through his role as former president of the University/Resident Theater Association. Nonetheless, he has been humbled and impressed by their work in his first months in the department.

“This is the greatest theater and dance faculty in the USA. What the faculty has done is absolutely humbling,” Pope said. “It’s stunning.”

Photo by John Foxworth

Pope’s academic positions include head of the theater department at the University of Illinois, head of acting and directing for the MFA fine arts program at Pennsylvania State University and appointments at Florida State University and Virginia Commonwealth University. His role as director of the Florida State/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training, however, was one of his favorites thanks to elements he hopes to grow at UT.

“[Florida State’s program] was like being a medical school professional who had a private practice and also trained doctors, so you get both worlds at once,” Pope said.

He calls associating a university’s training program with a professional theater the “teaching hospital model.” For some schools, the city in which it resides is actually the model because the industry is everywhere. But since theater is not prevalent on a large scale in Austin as it is in other cities like New York, the hospital model makes sense, Pope said. Whether through a partnership with the ZACH Theatre or an organically grown professional season, the goal is to draw students to Austin and to expand the national resonance of Texas’ work.

“Texas is the greatest resource of talent for undergraduate actors and musical theater in the country, and UT is going to create an environment that puts that great talent to work,” Pope said.

To achieve this, Pope explained that his main goal as chair is to foster a unified artistic vision that pulls together the program’s strengths, including their commitment to new work. “We already do the great stuff,” Pope said, referring specifically to the plays by nationally known playwrights and faculty members Steven Dietz and Suzan Zeder. The challenge, he said, is to produce an artistically and commercially viable season while also staying committed to that new work. This would allow the school to put on the broadly popular shows on the main stage while performing cutting edge work on the second stage.

As an actor and director Pope has participated in off-Broadway and regional theater performances with The Hartford Stage Company, Asolo Theatre Company and Park Square Theatre. He has co-authored or contributed to acting books, including “The Theatrical Imagination,” “Method Acting Reconsidered” and the Acting Edition of “Three Sisters,” and he authored a play titled “Sins of Omission.”

Pope is a member of the Theatre Communications Group and also acts as a program accreditation reviewer for the National Association of Schools of Theatre. At UT, he has also been appointed the Z.T. Scott Family Chair in Drama in the Department of Theatre and Dance. He succeeds the former interim chair of the department, Holly Williams.