UNLV theater department losing talent, experience

When Robert Brewer came to teach and direct at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1989, the theater department was a fraction of what it is now, and the professional-training program of the Nevada Conservatory didn't exist. So, the 65-year-old Chicago native had a lot of memories on his mind as he cleared his office last week.

Brewer is one of four dozen professors who have been cajoled into an attractive buyout. He's getting a $160,000 bonus to quit his job, in addition to retirement pay of 50 percent of regular salary.

As Richard Lake reported in the June 24 Las Vegas Review-Journal, the payouts are likely to save the university money in the long run. Getting rid of top-paying staff allows for the hiring of inexpensive newbies.

"There was no way I could say no," Brewer explains. Although he says he thinks the university president and arts dean have handled the situation with sensitivity, Brewer, unsurprisingly, regrets the budget cuts. "It's a brain drain. You're losing your best professors, the most experienced. It weakens the fabric of the university."

Brewer obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Illinois and snagged a Master of Fine Arts from Penn State. At 25 years of age, he became the youngest instructor in the history of Juilliard, the famed New York performing arts school. In 2003, he founded the Nevada Conservatory Theatre in partnership with the university. He was hoping it would provide a more effective professional training program. The goal was to hire a substantial number of union actors (mostly from Los Angeles and New York) to work alongside students, with union membership being granted at graduation.

Brewer wound up resigning as artistic director two years ago for what he called at the time "creative differences." But the program still stands.

"The NCT has suffered because of the economy," he says. "Ticket sales have been down. But I think it's moving forward. I still think there's a chance it will become a professional theater."

Brewer says the biggest surprise he encountered in running the program was the difficulty in raising money.

"I don't think talent is the problem in this town. There are surprises all over the place. The problem is the audience. I don't think the interest is there."

Is there anything to be done to heighten that interest?

"I think all the theaters could use marketing directors. They've got to learn to sell their product. And you have to have a belief that things are going to get better, which I think they will. You have to just keep plugging at it, believing in it."

Brewer isn't exactly riding into the sunset. He'll remain in Las Vegas (spending time, at last, with his first grandson) and freelance directing throughout the country. You may even find him at a theater near you.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at vegastheaterchat@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.