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Campus Review
May 14, 2012
Phillip DePoy Leaving Clayton State
To Concentrate on Literary Projects
by John Shiffert, University Relations
Music Alumni Hitting High Notes
Poetry Students
Attend Southern
Literary Festival 2012
Clayton State University Associate
Professor of English Dr. Brigitte Byrd
(the University’s unofficial poet laureate)
recently took four of her poetry students
to the Southern Literary Festival 2012,
which was hosted by Lipscomb
University in Nashville, Tenn.
Byrd (Fayetteville) entered poetry work
by the four students; Leigh Maxwell
(Atlanta), Jasmine Cason (Jonesboro),
Zuri Espinoza (Forest Park) and Sebastian
Lubbers (Lakeland, Fla.) to the Literary
Festival’s contest, an event that received
submissions from students from 36 differ-
ent Southern schools -- from the
University of Mississippi and University
of Arkansas to Piedmont College and the
University of Evansville), among others.
Clayton State University has greatly ben-
efitted over the past eight years by the
presence on campus of one of the nation’s
foremost artistic and literary talents,
Clayton State Theatre Director and
Assistant Professor of Theatre Phillip
DePoy.
The author of a string of highly-acclaimed
plays; not one, but two mystery/detective
novel series, and the much-discussed his-
torical novel, “The King James
Conspiracy,” DePoy has left his mark on
the University, not just through a series of
compelling and entertaining productions
in the Clayton State Theatre, but through
the establishment of a theatre major.
Alas, as the old English proverb (which
was not quoted by Brother Timon in “The
King James Conspiracy) says, “All good
things must come to an end.” DePoy will
be leaving Clayton State to concentrate on
his growing number of literary efforts – he
currently has three books
and two plays in the mak-
ing. DePoy notes that he
also has several other
projects coming up that
will require more time
than he could give if he
continues to serve as the
director of the Clayton
State Theatre. His last
day at Clayton State was
Wednesday, May 9.
“When I first came to
Clayton State eight years
ago, and was asked to
create a theatre major, it was a monstrous
truckload of fun,” he says. “Inventing
like, 20 new courses, finding students
who would understand the unique nature
of our ideas, I really loved doing it.
“As luck would have it, I've also been able
to keep pace with my own work in both
the literary and theatrical
worlds -- until now.”
In addition to creating the
University’s theatre major,
DePoy also counts among
his successes the profession-
al efforts of his former stu-
dents.
“It's also been pretty great to
see lots of our theatre majors
go on to great work after
graduation,” he says. “Our
very first major, Brittany
Loffert, runs the 14th Street
Playhouse now. Our longest-running
major, Tim Hand, is a genuine perform-
ance artist. Bryan Meadows will one day
run for president, and I'll vote for him -- as
long is he lends me money when I need it,
because he's also going to be a million-
Two alumni of Clayton State
University’s Division of Music, Brent
Davis (1999) and Stephen Odom
(2010) have recently been in the news
for significant career moves.
Bass-baritone Davis, a 1999 Bachelor
of Music in Voice Performance alum-
nus, is singing the principal role of
Masetto in the Atlanta Opera’s produc-
tion of Mozart’s Don Giovanni.
Odom, who holds a Bachelor of Arts in
Music, has been hired as part of the per-
formance company at Sight and Sound
Theatre in Branson, Mo., the largest
Christian-themed theatre company in
the nation.
In an email to Clayton State Director of
Opera and Vocal Studies and
Coordinator of the Division of Music
Dr. Kurt-Alexander Zeller, Odom
wrote:
“All of the analyzing we did in your
voice studio and in the opera class are
really paying off because every single
member of the cast digs just as deep
into their characters and scenes as we
did in studio and opera class. We are
expected to really do our homework
and I'm so thankful for my years with
you at Clayton State, because without
you, I would be very ill-prepared for
this job. So thank you for preparing me
so well to jump into the professional
world of performing. I could have
never anticipated how much those few
years would really help me in the long
run.”
Arts Page
Phillip DePoy
Music Alumni, cont’d., p. 14
Festival, cont’d., p. 10
DePoy, cont’d., p. 11