Of course, the obligatory after rehearsal snack or after performance party necessitated walking a few blocks to the Waffle House on Third Street or the Saratoga at Fifth and Wabash.Ī major disadvantage of the arrangement was moving in and out: every May, the technical staff, aided by the stalwart ISU moving crew, carried more than 50 risers up the stairs, along with other assorted platforms, flats, many lengths of pipe, dozens of large lighting instruments, great lengths of heavy electrical cable, and boxes of miscellaneous hardware necessary for the construction of a theater. It was possible to spend entire days working and living without having to leave the building except to walk the block to the Dreiser Hall scenic and costume shops. This arrangement had distinct advantages for some: students and other out-of-towners could be housed on the seventh floor and could breakfast and lunch at one of the two restaurants on the ground floor. The theater was located in the Cotillion Room-a ballroom on the second floor of the old Deming Hotel (which had been bought by ISU and renamed the Deming Center) at the corner of Sixth and Cherry Streets. Over the next few years, paid actors and technicians were brought in to augment the company. The program also attracted graduate students-primarily high school drama, speech, and English teachers from across the state who needed to work toward a graduate degree in order to upgrade their teaching credentials and who wanted to gain valuable experience and be a part of good theater. In the early years, Summer Theater was treated as an extension of the academic year, with students doing the plays during the summer as the major part of their practicum requirement for their course of study in the Theater Division. At a time when most academic theaters across the country were producing one or two plays for the benefit of summer students and audiences, this group produced a very ambitious slate of plays: The Rainmaker, Ladies of the Jury, Toys in the Attic, and Shakespeare’s As You Like It. The initial company, headed by Tom Headley, was composed of ISU students and the theater faculty. In 1965, the Theater Division of the Indiana State University Department of Speech began producing plays during the summer under the name ISU Summer Theatre. HISTORY THE EARLY DAYS - ISU SUMMER THEATRE
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |