Arizona State University Department of Theatre Records

Collection

Identifier: MS SC ADT

Scope and Content Note

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This collection houses the records of Arizona State University's Department of Theatre for all programs except Theatre for Youth. The Theatre for Youth Program Records are located in the Child Drama Collection (Boxes EDU/ASU). The bulk of the ASU Department of Theatre Records consist of such production materials as photographs, newspaper clippings, playbills, and season brochures. Also included are articles documenting the Department's historical highlights, faculty projects and biographies, season and production posters, and publications by the College of Fine Arts and the Department of Theatre.

Series I: Productions consists of seventeen boxes of materials arranged chronologically by academic year/season documenting the Department's mainstage productions, student productions (including Scholarship Series, Second Stage Series, Prism Series, etc.), joint productions with ASU's Lyric Opera Theatre, residencies and workshops by guest artists, and book-in productions by professional companies and artists. The folders in this series contain playbills, flyers, reviews and clippings, photographs, press releases, audition notices, correspondence, and production-related awards received by the Department. Document Removal forms within the folders in this series indicate descriptions and locations of articles relocated to Series VI.

Interested researchers may also wish to consult MS SC THA: Arizona Theatre Collection, Box 2 for information on productions produced solely by ASU's Lyric Opera Theatre (LOT); MS SC THA: Arizona Theatre Collection, Box 2 for materials regarding ASU's Institute for Studies in the Arts (ISA; a Department of Theatre faculty member serves as a liaison to ISA, and some Department productions have been subsidized through ISA grant monies); and the Child Drama Collection, Boxes EDU/ASU for information on the Department of Theatre's Theatre for Youth productions, festivals, and workshops.

Series II: Historical/Administrative Highlights and Ephemera includes two boxes with articles arranged chronologically documenting various events in the history of the Department, including the construction of facilities, alumni reunions, course offerings, graduate and undergraduate program overviews, and publicity materials for the College of Fine Arts. Interested researchers may also wish to consult the Child Drama Collection, Boxes EDU/ASU for information about graduate programs and curriculum in Theatre for Youth.

Series III: Faculty contains one box of articles and flyers showing some members of the ASU Department of Theatre faculty. Folders are arranged alphabetically by the faculty member's last name. Interested researchers may also wish to consult the Child Drama Collection, CTAA Biographical Boxes BIO-1 through BIO-3 for information on Theatre for Youth faculty and the personal papers of such former faculty as Don Doyle, Lin Wright, Barbara Salisbury Wills, and Roger Bedard.

Series IV: College of Fine Arts and Department of Theatre Publications is composed of two boxes with incomplete sets of publications produced by the Department of Theatre and the College of Fine Arts including Focus on Fine Arts, ASU Backstage, the ASU Theatre Alumni Newsletter, and CFA Calendar listings. Publications date from 1978 to 2002.

Series IV: Posters includes two oversize folders of various Department of Theatre posters arranged chronologically. Folder 1 houses ASU Department of Theatre Season Posters dating from 1981/82 to 1988/89; Folder 2 houses ASU Department of Theatre Production and Workshop Posters dating from 1971 to 1999.

Series VI: Oversized Articles contains three oversized folders of newspaper articles with photos. The materials in Folder 1 document productions; Folder 2 documents Historical and Administrative Highlights; and Folder 3 documents Department of Theatre faculty. Each of the three folders is arranged chronologically. Document Removal forms in Series I, Series II, and Series III describe each oversized item and its original location.

Series VII: Typescripts houses typescripts of shows never produced at ASU.

Series VIII: Videotapes includes recordings of ASU Department of Theatre productions, professionally produced plays, and theatre reference materials like profiles of theatre companies or workshops on acting.

Dates

Creation: 1931-2007

Language of Materials

Material in English

Access Restrictions

To view this collection, make an appointment at least five business days prior to your visit by contacting Ask an Archivist or calling (480) 965-4932. Appointments in the Wurzburger Reading Room at Hayden Library (rm. 138) on the Tempe campus are available Monday through Friday. Check the ASU Library Hours page for current availability.

Copyright

Arizona State University does not own the copyright to this collection. We recognize that it is incumbent upon the researcher to procure permission to publish information from this collection from the owner of the copyright.

Historical Note

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Records in this collection and in the ASU University Archives indicate that theatre activity was part of campus life at ASU as early as 1908. The University, then named Tempe Normal School of Arizona, had a Drama Society made up of women only. The first drama teacher at the school was Barbara Lee Reavis, who began in 1929. The earliest documented production activity of what is now called the ASU Department of Theatre was a workshop effort by students of the re-named Arizona State Teachers College at Tempe in 1932.

Throughout the years, the Department has operated under several names. Before the Department was officially instituted, students participating in productions were students of dramatics, often directed by professors from the English Department. From the late 1940's through 1950's production activities were billed under the name Drama Workshop; the name University Players was applied beginning in 1963. That year, Henry A. Bruinsma became the founding Dean of the College of Fine Arts. During this period theatre students were enrolled as majors in Speech and Drama in the Communications Department. In 1978 the University gave theatre its separate department status.

When theatrical activity first began on campus, students performed in a generic college auditorium, which was demolished in 1955 after 46 years on campus. Theatre venues then included a lecture hall in the Business Administration building, the Lyceum Auditorium, the Payne Lab School Auditorium, the Phoenix Little Theatre, and the ballroom of the student union.

In 1962, the Lyceum building was remodeled into a 150-seat theatre with a backstage area, dressing rooms, and space for scenery construction and storage. The Lyceum Theatre was sometimes billed as the University Playhouse. Students used the Payne Lab School for projects, calling it An Alternate Space. In 1982, however, the building was condemned and burned in a controlled exercise for local fire departments. Formerly a Tempe Elementary School, the 68-year-old building served as the principal and only classroom building for the Department of Theatre. After Grady Gammage Memorial Auditorium was erected in 1964, the University Players often co-produced large musicals with ASU's Lyric Opera Theatre in the new space. In 1981, the Lyceum Theatre was renovated on a $1.8 million budget. The Nelson Fine Arts Center, which houses the Paul V. Galvin Playhouse, was opened in 1989.

In addition to its mainstage seasons, the Department has hosted a number of series over the years that were created to showcase work exclusively by students in alternative venues. Reader's Theatre, the ASU Mime Troupe, the Prism Series, the Scholarship Series, and Second Stage Series are a few of the names under which these productions have fallen.

The Department has progressed under the leadership of four key individuals since the early 1970's. Dr. James Yeater served as Director of the University Players, Theatre Coordinator, and Director of Theatre until William Akins took over as Director of Theatre in 1976-77. When theatre was given Department status in 1978, Akins was appointed its first Chair. Dr. Lin Wright, who had been teaching and directing for the Department for many years, was appointed Akins' successor in 1984. Her retirement in 1996 lead to the appointment of Dr. Bonnie J. Eckard.

In 2003, the Department offered a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre with optional focus in Acting, Directing/Stage Management, Playwriting, Film, History, Theory and Criticism, Theatre Education/Theatre for Youth. The B.F.A. in Theatre for Youth was disestablished for incoming students as of the 2001-2002 catalog year. Graduate degrees included a Master of Arts in Theatre; Master of Fine Arts with concentrations in Theatre for Youth, Performance, and Scenography; and a Doctor of Philosophy with concentration in Theatre for Youth.

Full extent

20 Box(es)

Full extent

17.25 Linear Feet

Additional description

Abstract

Arrangement

This collection consists of twenty-one boxes divided into eight series:

Series I: Productions
Series II: Historical/Administrative Highlights and Ephemera
Series III: Faculty
Series IV: College of Fine Arts and Department of Theatre Publications
Series V: Posters
Series VI: Oversized Articles
Series VII: Typescripts
Series VIII: Videotapes

Provenance

Gift of the ASU Department of Theatre, 1999, through Sylvia Kronengold, with the permission of Bonnie Eckard, Chair.

Processing Note

Processed by Carol Lanoux, Library Aide, Special Collections and Arizona State University (ASU) MFA graduate student in Theatre for Youth, with assistance from Leigh-Ann Santillanes (ASU) MFA graduate student in Theatre for Youth, and Katherine Krzys, Curator, Child Drama Collection.