Gift by Theatre Department Employee Bridges Artistic Boundaries

January 22, 2009

James T. (Jimmy) Brimer, piano conductor and house manager at the University of Tennessee's Clarence Brown Theatre, is making a financial contribution that will support the widely varied arts that make up musical theater.

As part of the Family Campaign, Brimer created a new scholarship in Theatre, using the money he received as the 2007 recipient of the Lorayne W. Lester Award, given by the UT Knoxville College of Arts and Sciences to a faculty or staff member demonstrating outstanding service to the college, the university, or the community.

The Brimer Scholarship will be unique in that it is not for a music student but for an undergraduate theatre student having an interest in music performance or production and showing aptitude in these areas. In his many years working with students at the Clarence Brown Theatre, Brimer has helped hundreds of young performers to realize their talents, and in the process, he has gained a deep understanding of their need for financial support.

“It’s easy to see how long I’ve been connected with the UT Department of Theatre,” says Brimer. “The first play I helped produce was scheduled to open the day JFK was assassinated.”

In nearly 45 years since, first with the Carousel Theatre, then with the Clarence Brown Theatre, Brimer has helped realize more than 300 productions, directing both musicians and actors from his piano bench in dozens upon dozens of musicals. Besides his own formidable talent, Brimer also has that rare, almost magical ability to make actors who can’t sing sound marvelous and musicians who can’t act perform wonderfully.

Starting next year, the Brimer Scholarship will provide roughly $2,100 per year to help an aspiring student in musical theater with the costs incurred in exploring their interest in the field that long ago captured his heart. In explaining his reason for contributing his prize money for the scholarship, Brimer said "it was time to give back."

Before his work at UT, Brimer was a star piano student in the college’s School of Music. He went on to become an internationally known pianist and was one of 13 pianists worldwide selected to attend the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood.

Contact: The Office of Stewardship and Donor Recognition
Jay Fields, in UT’s Office of Creative Services, also contributed to this article.