• Notes from ISU Arts

• 'All My Children' to 'All My Students'
  A year and a half on a soap opera didn't sway Adam Heffernan away from classical theatre and Shakespeare in particular.
  
  Neither has roles on NBC's "Surface" or the CW's "One Tree Hill."
  
  "'All My Children' funded my theatre habit," Heffernan says. "As an actor you have to be willing to diversify your talents to meet your own goals.
  
  "You take almost any job you can."
  
  Heffernan, who joins the ISU Theatre faculty this fall, appeared on ABC's "All My Children" as "Scooter." It was a "very small" role that provided "comic relief" to the soap opera.
  
  "It was very fun and an easy role," Heffernan says. "I learned a lot from that experience."
  
  But years of working on a soap and appearances off, off Broadway wasn't what the New Hampshire native wanted to do with his career. So when an opportunity came to serve as the artistic director for Highlands Playhouse in North Carolina, he jumped at the chance.
  
  "It is rare for someone so young to be an artistic director even for a smaller theater like Highlands (or "The Playhouse")," Heffernan says. "In many ways, it was on-the-job training for me.
  
  "But I realized that if I wanted to go to the next level, I had to get a M.F.A. and possibly transfer into academia," he said.
  
  In his first year at Iowa State, Heffernan will teach acting and direct the program's classical plays. It's a role he wants to play at this point in his career.
  
  "The opportunity to teach acting along with a class in Shakespeare along with directing classical plays was an opportunity I couldn't pass up," he says.
  
  Fall preview
  A quick glance at the Department of Music's fall season reveals some familiar events to Ames concert goers. Once again, the "Collage of Choirs," "Band Extravaganza" and the "ISU Holiday Festival" dot the musical landscape.
  
  But this year a larger number of guest artists and faculty recitals are on the schedule, as are concerts by the department's smaller groups, including a joint performance Oct. 17 by the ISU Wind Ensemble and the ISU Percussion Ensemble.
  
  "Our smaller ensembles are very successful," says Michael Golemo, chair of the Department of Music. "By matching these two groups together we can show off the strengths of our smaller ensembles."
  
  First recital
  And if you want to take in one of faculty recitals, Sunday, Sept. 14, is your opportunity when Ames Piano Quartet's George Work will be featured on the cello.
  Work will be joined on the program by guest pianist Larry Jones of Nebraska Wesleyan as they perform "some of the 20th's century's most tuneful and appealing works."
  
  -Dave Gieseke
  

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September 8-21, 2008