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Specialized Indexes > Theatre Chronology
1926-1927 Academic Year
The University Theatre
The "University Theatre" is an amalgamation of all the activities of the Univesity of Notre Dame which are devoted to the dramatic and allied arts. By its organization, all campus work along these lines is coordinated, and Notre Dame's tradition of high class dramatic eendeavor is advanced. The University Theatre operates as a clearing house for student playwriting, production, direction, scene design, costuming, as well as for musical composition, (vocal and instrumental), orchestration, and stage presentation. With its active Production Unit covering not only stage direction, playwriting, composition, etc., but business management as well, the University Theatre purposes to be practical as well as artistic. Besides this, it coordinates the work of the Players' Club, the Monogram Club, and other such organizations.
The program for the 1926-27 season of the University Theatre includes, in addition to the premiere of this date ("The Fool of God" and "Lord Byron"), three other large productions--a complete musical comedy in Mid-Winter, a Post-Lenten presentation of three original one-act plays written by students of Mr. Phillips' Playwriting Class (English 31), and in June an elaborate historical pageant picturing the story of Notre Dame.
The present premiere offers for the first time in the stage annals of Notre Dame a program originating entirely on the campus. The two plays are written, respectively, by a member of the faculty and by two students of the Department of Music. The direction, music, and mounting are wholly the production of the students under the supervision of Prof. Frank W. Kelly and Prof. John J. Becker. This premiere, then, illustrates the special creative purpose of the University Theatre.
Play: The Fool of God, a dramatic idyl in one act
Author: Charles
Philips
Dates Performed: Friday, December 17, 1926, 8:15 P.M. and
reprised for Commencement June 3, 1927
Director: Frank W. Kelly
Producing Organization: The University Theatre
Cast List
Scribio, a servant: Roscoe Bonjean
Pietro Bernadone, a cloth merchant: John W. Cavanaugh
Francisco, Bernadone's son: Lester C. Grady
Antonio of the Wood, a beggar: Francis Pendergast
Basilio, a leper: John Leddy
The Bishop of Assisi: James C. Roy
The Bishop's Chaplain: Joseph Brannon [role cut from
Commencement program]
The setting of the play and the operetta was
designed and
mounted by the University Theatre Workshop under
the direction of Professor W. Kelly.
Note from the Program:
The "University Theatre" is under the patronage of the President, The Very Rev. Matthew J. Walsh, C.S.C., and under faculty supervision directed by the Rev. J. Hugh O'Donnell, C.S.C. The Executive Committee comprises Rev. E. Vincent Mooney, C.S. C., Director of the Players' Club, Professors F. W. Kelly, Vincent Fagan, and Thomas Mills, Production Directors; Professors John J. Becker and Joseph J. Casasanta, Music; Professors Clarence E. Manion and Charles Phillips, Scripts.
Students of the class in play production assisting Professor Kelly at this performance are: Albert Doyle, John O'Neil, Edward Cunningham, Joseph McNamara and Franklyn Doan.
The Committee extends its appreciation to Professor F. J. Kervick; Professor Oscar Lavery and The George Wyman Company for their kind cooperation.
Source: Program, William Farmer Private Collection; Dome 1927, 217.
Play Title: Lord Byron
Date Performed: Dec.
17, 1926
Libretto: Norbert Engels
Music: Jack Graham (written in the musical composition
class of Prof. John J. Becker)
Director: Frank W. Kelly
Stage Manager: not found
Sponsoring/Producing Organization: The University Theatre
Cast List
Lord Byron: John P. Butler
Mary: Doris McKowen
Duke: Ulysses J. Rothballer
Notes: The composer, Mr. Jack Graham, at the piano. Under
the musical direction of Professors John J. Becker and Elton Crepeau of
the School of Music. This appears to be the first Notre Dame
co-curricular production in which a woman played a female character.
Source: Program, William Farmer Private Collection; Dome
1927, 210-218.
The University Theatre
Second Production
Washington Hall
University of Notre Dame
Thursday, March Seventeenth,
Nineteen Twenty-seven
The Feast of St. Patrick
Downpatrick, Ireland, March 17, 493
Notre Dame, Indiana, March 17, 1927
One Act Plays
The attitude of the auditor toward a program of one act plays must necessarily be different from that in which he witnesses a full length play. Three separate scenes, in the lives of three entirely unrelated groups of people, are unfolded. Three quite separate stories are told. There is no unified theme, action, or characterization, connecting the plays. Each stands by itself and must be judged on its own merit. It is as if the reader were reading three diffferent short stories.
The three plays herewith presented are offered not alone for entertainment, but as an integral part of the technical and practical work being done by students in the Playwriting Course conducted by Prof. Charles Phillips, and the Play Production Course of Prof. F. W. Kelly. In the various productions undertaken by the University Theatre, plays by student authors are chosen for their merit as practical stage pieces; and acting parts are assigned with the purpose not only of offering an acceptable production, but to afford the student-actors varied opportunities to put into actual practice the theories of speech, characterization, and stage technique, which the study in class. In the same way, scenery is designed and built, costumes and properties are supplied, rehearsals are conducted, and stage effects (lighting, etc.) worked out, by students as a part of their scholasticc duties, with the sole purpose of giving them practical experience in theatre production and management.
Play: The Omadhaun, an Irish character sketch
Author: William H.
Vahey
Dates Performed: Thursday, March 17, 1927, 8:15 P.M.
Director: Frank W. Kelly
Music: the University Orchestra under the direction of
Prof. Joseph Casasanta
Stage Manager: not found
Producing Organization: The University Theatre
Cast List
Nora: Miss Helen Shank
Paddy: Albert Doyle
Bill: Donald Wilkins
Railroad Agent: Thomas Keegan
Joey: Thomas Garvey
Notes: Grateful acknowledgment is made of the kindness of
Miss Helen Shank in assisting in the production of Mr. Vahey's play.
Source: Program, William Farmer Private Collection; Dome
1927, 215.
Play Title: The Pump, a drama of American farm life
Author: Joseph A.
Brieg
Dates Performed: March 17, 1927
Director: not found
Stage Manager: not found
Sponsoring/Producing Organization: The University Theatre
Cast List
Bob: Lester C. Grady
Joe: John W. Cavanaugh
Kathryn: Mrs. John J. Becker
Note: Grateful acknowledgment is made of the kindness of
Mrs. John J. Becker in assisting in the production of Mr. Breig's play.
Source: Program, William Farmer Private Collection; Dome
1927, 215.
Play: Out of the River, a ghost story
Author: James
Griffin Jay
Dates Performed: March 17, 1927 and reprised for
Commencement, June 3, 1927
Director: Frank W. Kelly
Stage Manager: not found
Producing Organization: The University Theatre
Cast List
The Father: Andrew Barta
Marylka, his daughter: Mrs. Lawrence French
Rhodine, her mother: Mrs. Lawrence French
David, her sweetheart: John Leddy
Stefan, the son: Roscoe Bonjean
Tom, a friend: William O'Neill
Notes: Students of the Class in Play Production assisting
Professor Kelly at this performance are: Edward Cunningham, John
O'Neil,
Alfred Diebold, William O'Neil, Joseph McNamara, and the three authors.
The Committee extends its appreciation to Professor Oscar Lavery, and the Meyers Hardware Company, Northern Indiana Gas Company, and Palace Theatre.
Source: Program, William Farmer Private Collection; Dome 1927, 215.
Play: Two One-Act Plays and a Dramatic Theatre Contest for the University Theatre Award
Commencement 1927
Date Performed: Friday, June 3, 1927, 8:15 P.M.Director: Professor Frank W. Kelly
Stage Manager: not found
Producing Organization: The University Theatre presents The Players Club
Venue: Washington Hall
Contestants in Dramatic Reading Finals
A Scene from "King Lear": John Leddy
"Cassius Against Caesar": James Roy
O'Connell, The Orator": Edward McGuire
"Marullus to The People": Arthur Stenius
Notes: Students of the Class in Play Production assisting Professor Kelly at this performance are: Edward Cunningham, William O'Neil, Thomas Humble, Alfred Diebold, John O'Neill, and Joseph McNamara.
Source: Program, William Farmer Private Collection; Dome 1927, 215.
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