This year’s Emporia State University George R.R. Pflaum Memorial Lecture was presented by ESU Alum Drew Shirley, an actor and director who currently resides in Chicago.
Shirley graduated with his Bachelor’s Degree in Performing Arts from ESU in 2007, where he laid the groundwork to begin his professional career. Shirley recalls his early years of experience after he graduated from ESU.
A winner of the Los Angeles Stage Scene Outstanding Director Award, Shirley has made quite a name for himself in the film-making world. Shirley is not only an actor and director but also a writer. Amazing as it may seem, Shirley is often concerned for people like himself who take on these several roles.
Shirley says the main difference between working and living in Chicago versus in Los Angeles is that in Chicago, the focus is more on theatre work instead of acting in front of a camera.
The annual lecture is in memory of George R.R. Pflaum, who taught thousands of students, co-wrote a basic public speaking textbook, and established a nationally recognized debate program. Doc Pflaum remained a member of the Emporia community until his death in January 1977.
His service to ESU is remembered by this lecture, scholarships in debate and in theatre, a national invitational debate tournament named in his honor, and by the George R.R. Pflaum Debate Room in King Hall.
Photos from Devon Swartz/KVOE News
{gallery}112319 George R.R. Pflaum Lecture{/gallery}
