Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2011 - 63

noise was too much as far as the ladies were concerned. Brock
patiently explained that he had no other choice. "Although they
never said so out loud, they were not sorry to see me leave the
following year," he told me with that wry twinkle in his eye that
all of his acquaintances came to know so well.
The following year, 1950, found him back at Stanford
studying for his Ph.D. "Someone had given them money for
'Artists in Residence,' and they gave me a 'Junior Artist in
Residence' appointment." Suddenly very serious, Brock said,
"I must tell you that I have very mixed feelings about that entire
time." "In the years after the war, many college programs
were struggling with the huge influx of veterans, particularly
in graduate programs. Most of these programs had very few
faculty, and they were looking for any way to expand their
teaching resources. By giving me that appointment they made
it possible to assign me to legally teach any class. I soon
discovered that I was expected to fill in for whichever of the
faculty that was on leave each semester. With only three faculty
in the area, I was expected to either design sets, lights or be the
technical director for that term depending on who was away.
Not only that, I had to teach all of their classes as well. On one
hand it was probably the best education I ever got because I
had to do it all myself because the person whose work I had
to do wasn't there to tell me how to do it. I had to learn to do
it all myself and sometimes I was teaching things in which I'd
never had a course myself. At any rate, I learned a lot fast and it

was a valuable teaching experience. But on the other hand, I've
always felt that I was exploited and used."
"I should also mention that it was during this time that I
first met Joel Rubin. Joel was also a Ph.D. student at Stanford,
and he would often come into the theatre to read or meet and
talk with others while I was working away hanging lights or
building scenery. I guess he wasn't 'lucky' enough to have one
of those 'Artists' appointments like I had!"
It was also during this time that Brock met and, in 1951,
married his wife, Linne, who was a graduate student in the
costuming program at Stanford. They both graduated in 1952
and took jobs teaching together at Stetson University in Florida,
where they stayed until 1956. "We were the theatre faculty," he
chuckled. "We did it all. I did the sets and lights, she did the
costumes and we split the directing duties. It was a good learning experience working with those small budgets. I learned to
do a great many things with cardboard!"
Life changed dramatically in 1956 when Dr. Brockett
landed a new job at the University of Iowa. Being in a large
department with several design colleagues meant that for the
first time he didn't have to produce every show. It should also
be noted for the record that it was during this time that most of
Brock's design work was lost during a flood that inundated the
faculty offices at the U of I. "Actually, I think in retrospect that
might have been a good thing," he opined with that familiar
twinkle. He did, however, find himself teaching more and being

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