The Nineteen Seventies
1973-74
Personal Appearance directed by University Theatre Business
Manager Merle Loppnow in the Arena was the first production in Rarig Center. Merle choose this play because it was the first play produced by the Penthouse Players (the first arena theatre in Minnesota) located in a loft in downtown St. Paul which he founded in 1936. It was the second time he had directed it for University Theatre – the first being in 1951. In November A Doctor in Spite of Himself and Gammer Gurton’s Needle were staged by Kenneth L. Graham in the Thrust. We also produced two workshops in the Proscenium (under worklight conditions): Pullman Car Hiawatha and Queens of France in early November and The Renaissance of Barnabe Barnes written by Barbara Nosanow (now Barbara Field) at the end of the month. The latter was the University Theatre’s 1974 entry in the American College Theatre Festival. Theatre of the Word in fall quarter included James Thurber’s The Catbird Seat, The Overshoe, A Visit of Charity and Revelation directed by David Thompson.
In winter quarter, workshop productions included Gallows Humor, Joe Egg (Arena), The Flies (Thrust), and Theatre of the Word’s Everyman (Thrust). A rock musical based on Twelfth Night entitled Your Own Thing was directed by then grad student Stephen Kanee in January in the Thrust preceded by Robert Moulton’s production of The Cycle Plays in the Experimental. Blood Wedding performed in 
the Arena in early February. Shakespeare’s King Lear, directed by Frank Whiting, newly retired director of the theatre, officially opened the building and featured alum Larry Gates, professor and stage, film and television actor, playing the title role in the Proscenium. Imamu Amiri Baraka’s Slave Ship and Ted Shine’s Ida Bell’s Fortune were directed by Horace Bond on a twin bill in the Experimental in late March.
Spring quarter saw Death of a Salesman, directed by Warren Frost in the Thrust, the 18th century comedy The Critic directed by Jean Congdon in the Arena, and Pirandello’s Right You Are If You Think So, staged by Charles Nolte in the Proscenium. The latter was the first time we used live video feeds of the action projected onto screens while the action was taking place. At the same time we teched Right You Are we were also in techs for Tales of Hans Christian Andersen in the Thrust (the second Young People’s University Theatre production of the quarter -- in March, we had reprised A Doctor In Spite of Himself for student audiences) Spring workshops were The Golden Gate and The Killer in the Experimental; Theatre of the Word The Canterbury Tales in the Thrust. The year was capped by what became an end-of-the-year tradition: Robert Moulton’s “Dance and Prance,” a wonderful rowdy showing of the culmination of the efforts of each year’s movement classes.
The summer of 1974 was the scene of two presentations on the Showboat, The Importance of Being Earnest and Trial by Jury as a curtain-raiser for The Tavern, all directed by Frank Whiting. The
Showboat cast was invited to a party given by the Minneapolis Aquatennial Association in appreciation of their performance which the latter had attended. Hansel and Gretel and The Royal Cricket of Japan played in the Peppermint Tent directed by Gerry Koch. Again we thought to show off our new Rarig Center home to our summer audiences and decided to produce You Know I Can’t Hear You When the Water’s Running with one act in each theatre, starting with the Arena, moving Act II to the Thrust, and ending with Act III in the Proscenium. An errant light cue at the end of act I in the Arena produced the first nudity in University Theatre history much to the shock of a Sunday matinee audience! Also in Rarig, The Ballad of Suzie Q was performed by the Summer High School Workshop students again under Tony Steblay’s direction. Lee Adey directed Nothing of Substance by Michael Wolk, A Passing of the Prophet by Brian Brown, and We Have Nothing to Fear But Nothing by John Olive for the University Summer Festival in August. Billed as 3 Plays in 3 Places each play was presented in a different Rarig theatre. The summer of 1974 was also the scene of an alumni reunion held to show off the sparkling new facility of Rarig Center.
