Georgia College Department of Theatre and Dance: Home

 History of the Georgia College Department of Theatre and Dance 

In May 1940, following the performance of Night Must Fall, several "jesters" met the requirements to become full fledged members of Alpha Psi Omega Society, "the largest national collegiate honor society for dramatics." These students acted as the founders of the organization. To secure their membership, they had to learn "25 continuous lines of Shakespeare, the Greek alphabet, and the location of all national offices of Alpha Psi Omega." The founding members included Grace Brown, Catherine Cavanaugh, Mildred Covin, Marion Culpepper, Celia Deese, Hilda Fortson, Anne King, Lois McCrory, Joyce Mickle, Martha Pool, America Smith, Margaret Stugis, Beth Williams, Rose McDonnell, Catherine Brown, and Frances Coates [Source: Untitled Article, Colonnade, April 20, 1940 ; "New AIpha Psi Omega Chapter Opened Here; Charter Members Celebrate At Banquet Tonight," Colonnade, May 18, 1940]

In September of 1940, the Theta Beta Chapter of Alpha Psi Omega honor society, which also oversaw the activities of the "masqueraders" and "jesters" formed the College Theater. Edna West was the first faculty sponsor of Alpha Psi Omega.  That first 1940-41 season, the College Theatre put on four plays: one in each quarter (with GC being on the quarter system at that time). Tryouts were open to the entire student body for each play, and those that made the cut were welcomed into the "Jesters," with the possibility for later membership in Alpha Psi Omega. [Source: "Drama Groups Combine to form Theater," Colonnade, September, 28, 1940 ].

To become a member of Alpha Psi Omega, "a student must have Theatre Productions and served on each of the crews which include lights, stage props, costumes, sound, house, publicity, cast, scene... and makeup" [Source, "Dramatic Frat admits Seventeen", Colonnade, May 25, 1946 ]

Jack Gore was the director of the theater in 1952 (he was also the head of the speech department). He took a leave of absence during the 54 to 55 school year to work on his doctorate  [SOURCE: "Mr. Jack Gore Granted Leave," The Colonnade, May 6, 1954 ]. Mr. Jack Gore again became Alpha Psi Omega's faculty advisor upon his return in the Fall of 1955 [SOURCE: "Drama Fraternity Initates Pledges," The Colonnade, October 14, 1955].

In February of 1955, the group purchased their first spotlight [SOURCE: "College Theater Purchases Spotlight; Cast Chosen, Start Work on Spring Play," The Colonnade, February 28, 1955 ]

Leonard Hart was hired as an assistant professor of speech in Fall 1959. [Source: Colonnade Article, "Eight New Members Join GCSW Staff", Colonnade, October 10, 1959]. Leonard Hart directed 15 plays at Georgia College before leaving at the end of the 1963-64 school year for a post in Western Kentucky State University. Plays he directed included Denny and the Witches, Korea, You Touched Me, John Loves Mary, Oliver Oliver! (others?). [Source: Colonnade Article, "Special Spotlight: Leonard Hart," May 15, 1964. ]

In January of 1960, the College Theater revised its membership rules [how?] [SOURCE: "College Theater," The Colonnade, January 16, 1960 ]

Jim Maloon took Hart's place in Fall 1964. 

Carol Ann McCue became Theatre director Fall 1967. [Source, "GC Theatre Announces Cast," Colonnade, Oct. 17, 1967 ]

J. Dalton Eddleman became Theatre Director, Fall 1968.

[According to 1965 Spectrum, one play produced each quarter. it names two plays from 1964-65 as "Bright Girl" and "Picnic" but does not give dates for these, and does not list the other plays performed that school year]

Eddleman was still director of the GC Theatre in 1969-1970 [1970 Spectrum]

John Blair was the director of the GC Theatre in 1979 [1979 Spectrum].

Jim Hammond served as director of the Theatre Department from 1987 to 1990. His goals were to build up an audience for the theatre and to make the theatre department into a regional theatre, inclusive of both students and community members. During his tenure, he introduced season tickets with assigned seating, Saturday matinee performances, and the development of a community theatre support group, Theatre Stars.

At the time of Jim Hammond's departure from Georgia College, about 1,000 individuals held season tickets. He left in 1990 to become the director of the Gainsville Theater Alliance and associate professor of drama and speech at Gainesville and Brenau colleges, which had a joint theatre program from which Hammond and his wife had graduated.  [Source: The Union Recorder, June 5, 1990 ]

After Hammond's departure, the Theatre department moved from operating within the English and Speech department, joining with music department to become the Department of Music and Drama in Fall 1990. This combination was done to more efficiently coordinate schedules, to better organize publicity and recruitment efforts. The two departments felt like a natural fit for one another, given how often they collaborated on theatre productions-- particularly, musicals. [Source: The Union Recorder, July 20, 1990]

The search committee for Willoughby's replacement was composed of not only Georgia College faculty, and administrators, but also theatre patrons. They hired David Moore, who, seeking to shape a more professional program, sought out and actively recruited talent. His ingenues included Trent Blanton, Johnetta Bowser, and Jeff Wiggins. Moore promised his recruits, "If you come to Georgia College and enroll in the theatre program, I promise to stay with you until you graduate." He kept that promise, staying at GC until these students undertook their final performance.[Source: Union Recorder, May 19, 1995 ]

On June 8, 1994, the Board of Regents approved a bachelor of arts degree in Theatre at Georgia College.  Prior to the new degree program, students interested in drama had been majoring in general studies with a concentration in Theater. [Source: The Union Recorder, June 9, 1994]. Jim Willoughby, chairman of the department of music and theatre said that Moore was "instrumental in getting the theatre degree approved," at GC, further elaborating how "he has created a sound academic program in theatre here, and managed to do it without the aid of abundant scholarship funds. He has recruited top quality students not he strength of the program's growing reputation."  [Source: Union Recorder, May 19, 1995 ]

Fred Berg--  listed as "new" in Union Recorder, 11-20-1997.

Georgia College purchased the Campus Theatre Building, an old cinema, from accountant Randall Hattaway in February 2008 and began the process of renovating the facade and converting the inside into a performance space.  Soon after, Karen Berman, an "Atlanta native with many accomplishments, including degrees from George Washington University and the Catholic University of America" became the Theatre Department chair (in August 2008). At the time, she was "doing research on campus for her Ph.D" and had "recently [been] inducted into the College of Fellow of the American Theatre at the Kennedy Center. Only about 170 people have been named Fellows, including Pulitzer Prize winners." An active advocate for social change, Berman initiated the Katrina Project during her times president of the Association of Theatre in Higher Education. The project aided high schools that had been destroyed in Hurricane Katrina to rebuild drama programs. "We worked in Collaboration with the Black Theatre Network on this project as well," German told Colonnade reporter April Argo at the time. [SOURCE: "The Show Will Go On: Theatre Department Begins A New Season," The Colonnade, September 5, 2008 ]. The first Theatre Season under Berman's tenure was "Women in the Spotlight: Plays by Women" (2008-2009), and the second Theatre Season she oversaw was "Dreaming Global Justice" (2009-2010).

Berman worked with Dottie Pratt, a theater and creative writing major who graduated from GCSU in 2010, to bring the Rocky Horror Picture Show to GCSU. Pratt was the founder of the Clark Street Glitter Lips and the first director of the Rocky Horror Picture show in 2008 ["Directing Dottie," The Colonnade, November 5, 2010; "'Rocky Horror' Steps onto GCSU campus" The Colonnade, September 19, 2008]. After that first shadowcast show on October 30, 2008, the event became a yearly tradition up through [date]. 

In early 2009, The Music and Theatre Department began offering online ticket sales for its shows. [SOURCE: "GCSU Now Offers Online Ticket Sales," The Colonnade, March 6, 2009 ]

On July 1, 2009, the Theatre Department became its own department, separate from the Music department.

The theatre Department continued to collaborate with Music, as well as with other departments, including the Creative Writing Department.[When does Arts and Letters Contest begin?] The annual Arts and Letters Contest accepts submissions around the world from a variety of creative writing genres. Creative Writing professionals judge the entries. When the winning entry is a play, the play is staged by the theatre department and the winner is flown out to GC to see their work on stage [Check-- is this information correct? Lot of it inferred from one article. Also, see if this contest is still going on, and if this is still the practice if a play is chosen ] ["Arts and Letters Play Lives Up to GCSU's Taste," The Colonnade, April 2, 2010]

After a fall 2008 pilot that showed promising results in terms of aiding students with mental health, in Fall 2009, the Theatre Department received an upstart grant from the Bringing Theory to Practice Project to fund a new course, "Promoting Holistic Health Through Theatre Performance Programming, wherein students researched health issues and presented short plays about those issues to the class. [SOURCE: "Thespians Granted Health Class," The Colonnade, April 24, 2009 ]

The Campus Theater underwent construction, in [dates]. The renovations restored the "Art Deco style marquee and facade, fully... to its 1935 glory." ("A Once Fading Treasure Shines Again," Milledgeville Living, [DATE?])

 During construction, Theatre instruction was given in the basement of Porter Hall. The Campus Theater reopened in [month] 2010 with "a computer lab, a make-up lab, an acting lab, a design lab, a conference room and green room in addition to the new blackbox theatre." .[ "GCSU Adjusts to Campus Theatre," The Colonnade, 2010].The blackbox theatre would serve "not only... as a showcase but also as a hands-on classroom... before the theater was available for student use, actor were confined to classrooms not suitable for a true picture of how the blocking and stage directions should be carried out." [SOURCE: "Black Box Theatre Comes Alive: 'Steel Magnolias' unveiled as first major production for Black Box Theater." The Union Recorder, cca Summer 2010] The new space also included the Barnes and Noble Georgia College bookstore.[ "GCSU Adjusts to Campus Theatre," The Colonnade, 2010]. Steel Magnolias was the first production staged at the new black box theatre [ SOURCE: "Black Box Theatre Comes Alive: 'Steel Magnolias' unveiled as first major production for Black Box Theater." The Union Recorder, cca Summer 2010]

Also late in 2010, the actress Mary Badham, who portrayed Scout in the film To Kill a Mockingbird visited  the campus to view Georgia College's own To Kill a Mockingbird production and to participate in "An Evening with Scout" in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the film. [" 'Mockingbird's Scout to Visit Georgia College" [source unknown, cca 2010]

The first annual Arts and Letters contest began in 2011 [see Colonnade article from sometime in March 2012 for more information]

In February 22, 2019, the department staged their first African American musical, Crowns. Dr. Amy Pinney said that the play was chosen to coincide with the 50th anniversary of GC's first African American graduate, Celestine Hill, as well as with Black History Month. [Source: Union Recorder, February 22, 2019 ]