Glass grads return for play
By Casey Gillis on Feb. 09, 2010
Editor’s note: Two former E.C. Glass and Virginia School of the Art alums, Enrique Brown and Matt Fletcher, are participating in Glass’ production of “The Music Man” (see main story for more). Here are their stories.
Enrique Brown
A Dallas native, Enrique Brown started singing and acting when he was very young and discovered dance at 7 years old.
“There’s a song in ‘A Chorus Line’ (called) ‘I Can Do That,’ talking about this guy watching his sister in class, saying, ‘I can do that,’” Brown says. “And that’s pretty much my story.”
He began taking classes after his sister and was immediately hooked.
“I can’t ever think of a time when I didn’t want to go to dance class,” he says. “I didn’t want to stop.”
Brown came to Lynchburg in 1993 to attend the Virginia School of the Arts and was one of the first students there to get involved in theater productions at E.C. Glass. Today, the two schools collaborate regularly, but that interaction was practically nonexistent before Brown.
“No one had ever expressed the interest before,” says Jim Ackley, the head of Glass’ theater department.
Today, that partnership is “part of the reason both programs are as strong as they are,” says VSA senior Megan Asano.
After graduating in 1995, Brown decided to pursue ballet professionally.
“Moving away from home at 15 (to attend VSA) was kind of like going away to college,” he says.
He danced with Ballet Oklahoma for four years, participating in summer stock theater programs when he could. He left Oklahoma in 1999 and moved to Los Angeles, where he eventually landed a part in a national touring production of “Fame.”
A year and a half later, Brown settled in New York and was cast in the 2000 revival of “The Music Man.”
Other roles and shows followed, culminating with “The Little Mermaid” last year. It closed over the summer, and Ackley’s offer to direct “The Music Man” came right as Brown decided to focus on behind-the-scenes roles directing, choreographing and producing.
“I think it’s great working with a director who is also a choreographer and has a classical background,” says Asano, who plays the female lead in Glass’ production. “It’s a really unique combination, and the fact that’s he’s a VSA alum. It’s neat how it all comes together.”
Matt Fletcher
Like Brown, Matt Fletcher’s path to the stage began at a young age, when he appeared in productions with the now-defunct Cherry Tree Players in Lynchburg.
Fletcher credits Ackley with inspiring him to stick with it for all these years.
“Theater was always a hobby for me. It was never going to be a career until I met Jim,” he says. “He said, ‘You’re really good at it. It is possible to make it a career.’”
After leaving Glass, Fletcher majored in drama at the University of Virginia. He graduated in 2007 and moved to Chicago, where he and a friend started the Sideshow Theatre Company.
“I was so New York-bound for so long,” he says.
But toward the end of his senior year, “the idea of going at it alone in this world, in New York, was so daunting.”
When his friend suggested going to Chicago to “do what we love on our own terms,” Fletcher says he was sold.
Looking back on his time at Glass, Fletcher has a few favorite roles, including Seymour in “Little Shop of Horrors” and R.P. McMurphy, the Jack Nicholson role, in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”
But it’s Harold Hill that has eluded him until now.
“It’s been my dream role forever,” he says. “I wore out the VHS of ‘Music Man’ as a kid. It means a lot to me to come home and do it.”
“It’s like a 2-month vacation. I’m working my pants off, but I’m having the time of my life,” he adds. “I really think I’m going to compare a lot of experiences to this.”
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