Everything Nac

    Reserve tickets and general admission passes are now available for the 2011 installment of the Archie McDonald Speaker Series at Stephen F. Austin State University.

    Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean, the fourth man to walk on the moon and an award-winning artist, will be the featured guest at the event titled “Leaving an Impression One Step at a Time.” The conversation will begin at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 14, in the Grand Ballroom of the Baker Pattillo Student Center on the SFA campus.

Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean

    Reserve tickets are $75 and available for purchase at www.sfasu.edu/archie. These tickets include a private reception with Bean starting at 6 p.m. in the Twilight Ballroom and priority seating during the speaking event.

    Free passes for general admission seating may be picked up at the SFA Involvement Center located on the first floor of the student center or at the downtown Nacogdoches Visitors Center, 200 E. Main St.

    “Alan Bean is a member of a most exclusive group – one of 12 people who have walked on the moon and captured the focus and imagination of the nation and the world during the apex of manned space exploration,” Dr. Archie McDonald said. “Our speaker series is delighted to feature a fellow Texan who has viewed our world from a perspective few others have experienced.”

ALAN BEAN KNEELING IN SPACESUIT, 1969

    SFA’s speaker series, which debuted last spring, was created to honor and preserve McDonald’s legacy as a distinguished scholar, educator and community commentator. A prominent national figure will be hosted annually at SFA to discuss contemporary cultural issues – from politics to art – in the tradition of McDonald’s writings and oral presentations. The annual event is sponsored by SFA’s Student Government Association and College of Liberal and Applied Arts.

    McDonald has taught history at SFA for 46 years and served as director of the East Texas Historical Association and editor of the association’s journal for 37 years. He is a past president of the Texas State Historical Association, past vice chair of the Texas Historical Commission and author/editor of more than 20 books on historical topics. Along with teaching, McDonald currently serves as the SFA university/community liaison and is a weekly commentator on Red River Radio in Shreveport.

    For more information, call (936) 468-2385.

    Musical compositions with some sort of monumental aspect will be presented by the Stephen F. Austin State University Wind Ensemble during its “Monuments” concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 5, in W.M. Turner Auditorium.

    The featured work will be David Maslanka’s Symphony No. 8, which SFA Director of Bands Fred J. Allen calls an “epic work.” “The SFA bands have been part of commissions for pieces by David Maslanka on three previous occasions, so we are always interested in his latest compositions.”

    David W. Campo, SFA associate director of bands, will guest conduct Vaclav Nelhybel’s three-movement “Trittico,” a piece Campo describes as “monumental.”

    Also included on the program are Percy Grainger’s “Irish Tune from the County Derry” and John Philip Sousa’s “The Foshay Tower March.”

    “This march was written fro the opening ceremonies of the Foshay Tower in Minneapolis,” said Allen. “But shortly after, Foshay was sent to prison for a pyramid scheme, and his $20,000 check to Sousa bounced! Sousa thereafter forbade the playing of it, and not until concerned citizens paid the debt to the Sousa family in 1988 was the march ever played again.”

    The concert is a joint presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts and School of Music. Tickets are $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and $2 for students. For tickets or more information, go to www.finearts.sfasu.edu or call (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS.

    Emmy Award-winning screen and stage actor Anthony Zerbe will present his nationally acclaimed performance of “It’s All Done with Mirrors … an avalanche of e. e. cummings” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 6, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus.

    “In this uncommon mix of theatre and salon, Zerbe provides joyous access to the art and energy of one of America’s most beloved poets, moving pell mell through a parade of characters, accents and dazzling word play,” explained his publicist, Ann Patrice Carrigan.

    In addition to this public performance, Zerbe’s three-day residency includes two separate lectures to SFA cinematography and theatre students as well as 10 one-on-one acting tutorials with SFA theatre students.

    “It’s hard to think of a living actor with broader and deeper experience than Anthony Zerbe,” said Scott Shattuck, director of the SFA School of Theatre, which is cosponsoring the residency. “What an extraordinary opportunity for our students to interact directly with one of the most acclaimed and respected professionals in their field, and what a wonderful chance for all of us to see a master actor perform great poetry.”

    Zerbe has appeared in more than 50 films, ranging from 1967’s “Cool Hand Luke” to “The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions” in 2003, as well as practically countless television appearances. He won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1976 for his role as police Lt. K.C. Trench in the acclaimed private-eye series “Harry O.”

    He co-starred with Elizabeth Taylor in the 1981 Broadway revival of “The Little Foxes,” one highlight of a stage career in which he has also played Iago opposite James Earl Jones’ Othello and the title role of Cyrano de Bergerac at two of America’s leading regional theatres, the Long Wharf in New Haven and Huntington Theatre Company in Boston.

    Some of Zerbe’s best-known film roles are Matthias, the sinister cult leader in “The Omega Man”; Toussaint in “Papillon”; Rosie in “The Turning Point”; Roger Stuart in Stephen King’s “The Dead Zone”; James Bond villain Milton Krest in “License to Kill”; and Vice-Admiral Dougherty in “Star Trek: Insurrection.”

    On network television, Zerbe has guest starred in dozens of popular series, from “Naked City” and “Route 66” to “Frasier” and “Judging Amy.” From 1989 to 1992, he co-starred with Josh Brolin and Stephen Baldwin in “The Young Riders.”

    Zerbe spent five seasons at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre (where his roles included Coriolanus, Richard III and Macbeth), two seasons at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., and a season at Canada’s Stratford Festival; he also starred on Broadway in “Terra Nova” and “Solomon’s Child.”

    Zerbe is appearing at SFA as the 2011Schmidbauer Artist-in-Residence and as a joint presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts, School of Theatre and School of Art. Tickets for Wednesday’s performance of “It’s All Done With Mirrors” are $6 for adults and $3 for seniors and students. For tickets or more information, please go to www.finearts.sfasu.edu or call (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS.