Professor Royal R. Brantley is the son of Charlotte Rugel Brantley and the late Royal L. Brantley of Canyon, Texas. A veteran of the CHS drama program and a two-time Texas All-State Choir member, he graduated from Canyon High School in 1977. Royal received his Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from West Texas State University in 1980 and was then accepted into the Masters of Fine Arts program at Trinity University, which was serviced by a professional internship with the Dallas Theater Center in Dallas. While at the Dallas Theater Center, Royal performed leading roles with the professional company and received the prestigious FE Guapp Renaissance and Green Garson Theatre Art awards.
A 1983 MFA graduate of Trinity University, he accepted a position with West Texas State University as an assistant professor of theater. Soon appointed director of theater, Brantley taught theater classes each semester, provided artistic and managerial leadership of the theater program, and directed plays and musicals every semester. In 1990 he became a tenured faculty member and was promoted to the rank of associate professor of theater. Later, in 1999, Brantley was promoted to the rank of full professor of theater.
In 1994 Brantley received an administrative appointment as head of the department of art, communication and theater. Working with the department"s faculty, he has provided numerous educational experiences for hundreds of students majoring in art, art education, communication disorders, graphic design, mass communications, musical theater, speech, speech education, theater and theater education.
In addition to his administrative role, Royal has continued to teach theater classes and direct theatrical productions for the WTAMU Branding Iron Theatre. Achievements in teaching garnered Brantley the 1997 West Texas A&M University Teaching Excellence Award, the 1997 Texas Educational Theatre Association University Educator of the Year Award, Piper Professor and CASE Professor of the Year nominations, a 2000 appointment as a Texas A&M University System Richardson Fellow, a 2001 appointment to The Texas A&M University System Academy fro Educator Development and, in 2004, Royal received the prestigious Texas A&M University System Regents" Professor Award.
Scholarly and creative pursuits generated seven American College Theatre Festival Best Play awards from critic-judges and competing directions, a National Finalist Best Play award from the American College Theatre Festival, which included two performances of Mark Medoff"s The Homage That Follows at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC and the honor of being selected five times to judge the UIL State One-Act Play Contest in Austin.
In the area of service, Royal has served WT, his community and the state through many committee assignments, as an active student advisor and sponsor, through recruiting efforts with high schools and junior colleges, by being appointed vice president and later president of the two-thousand member Texas Educational Theatre Association, through management services to the UIL of Texas and by serving as a consultant to the Texas State Board of Education and the Texas Panhandle Heritage Foundation.
