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Life & Arts

Prof's career comes at the tip of a sword

Stage combat enthusiast Brian Byrnes keeps students sharp, helps control School of Theater and Dance take steps in the right direction

by MARK SUAREZ
The Daily Cougar

There are times in life when everything seems to make sense. The world of theater, however, may not always allow for such luxuries.

For Associate Professor Brian Byrnes, his defining moment in theater came in 1986 during his undergraduate studies at the University of Iowa.

"I asked one of the graduate students who I had worked with and respected very much if he would write me a letter of recommendation for an interdepartmental (theater) scholarship," Byrnes said. "He looked me square in the eye and said, ‘I think you have some good skills, but I want to know if you're really serious about this work for the future.'" 

For Byrnes, those words would begin the script to what has been a successful professional career in theater performance, directing and education. Like most, the journey has been with sacrifice and a strong commitment to excellence, which Byrnes has demonstrated with consistent prowess for more than 20 years.

Upon earning his bachelors in Theater Arts from Iowa, Byrnes began his career in the same manner most actors in search of the big stage aspire -- to work in New York City. For eight years, Byrnes toiled in odd jobs at Steve's Ice Cream Store and Morgan's Hotel, among others, while perfecting his craft as a performer in the evening. 

Byrnes has performed at the Metropolitan Opera and off-Broadway in New York as well as Regional theaters, Shakespeare festivals and television spots throughout the country.

Byrnes, however, parlayed his greatest attribute as a student of stage combat -- an art he pursued as an undergraduate -- to gain prominent and rewarding roles, such as Romeo and Juliet's Mercutio. He is the vice president of the Society of American Fight Directors, a position he holds in high regard.

In 1995, Byrnes earned his master of arts from the University of Pittsburgh and, one year later, came to the University of Houston as an associate professor at the School of Theater and Dance where he has since developed performance courses and teaches Movement, Stage Combat and Acting.

Byrnes has accrued numerous fight directing credits to include the Lincoln Center, Three Rivers Shakespeare Festival, Hope Summer Repertory Theater, and is the acting director for UH's latest production, A Street Car Named Desire.

For this production, his goal is to focus on various points of view including design, costume, directing, acting and props.

"Our attempt is to really try to do what we really think Tennessee Williams intend to do," Byrnes said. "There is so much baggage that goes with this play. It's an iconic play so there's a lot of information.It can be overwhelming. What we're trying to do is really be true to what we feel the text calls for."

Byrnes knows that the obstacles that lay ahead for his performers and production team will be a challenge. The rush of performing on stage is something Byrnes has always coped with by staying true to the moment, especially when he is holding a sword.

"You've got to pay attention exactly to the individual you're working with. Any kind of sword or stage weapon is a really neat prop. And it's how you work with this other person on stage to make these pretty cool-looking props look like they're deadly implements of destruction. That's the great challenge of performance. How can you make it look inspired, spontaneous, committed and connected," Byrnes said.

The School of Theater and Dance continues to be Byrnes' greatest project, one that he feels is moving in the right direction each year.

"I think our department is on a very good stage of expansion and improvement to become very viable, not that it hasn't produced strong people in the past who are working professionally, but one of our efforts now is to focus on the graduate level training, a restructuring of the graduate program that we've had," Byrnes said. "We're putting a little more of an intense focus to that study on the acting, directing and design ends."
 

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