The Nineteen Seventies
1975-76
Fall quarter began with Man and Superman directed by Professor David W. Thompson. To celebrate the opening of our 75th year of producing plays on campus, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra Quintet played in a free concert preceding the performance of the play on October 31st. Theatre of the Word presented Don Juan in Hell (as a complement to Man which omitted Act III). Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party directed by Emily Mann and featuring a very sinister Steve M. Carlson with cohort Tom Hegg came next in November in the Arena. Harley Venton played Stanley with Pat Van Catledge as Meg. The entry in the American College Theatre Festival competition was the final fall production in the Proscenium The Authentic Dance of Benjamin Dancer written by graduate student Richard Hilger and directed by Lee Adey. The production featured more fire power than any show since with a gun expert brought in to show the cast members weapon care.
The University Theatre joined the country in celebrating the Bicentennial by producing only American plays from January through September 1976. January saw the release of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s black comedy Happy Birthday, Wanda June directed
by Mark S. Weinberg in the Thrust. A children’s play A Visinable-a-Berry Adventure was also dramatized in January in the Experimental Theatre. The Little Foxes came next in the Arena in February directed by Charles Nolte. And the wrap-up show of winter was the musical Guys and Dolls, choreographed and directed by Robert Moulton with sets by Lance Brockman, costumes by Julien Phillips, and lighting by Jean Montgomery. This was the first full-blown musical we had done in the Proscenium, complete with orchestra and conductor Stephen Schultz from the School of Music. It featured several actors and crew personnel who went on to successful careers, among them Barbara Barnett, David Cecsarini, Tom Hegg, Brian Bjorklund, Kathy Suman, Allen Campion, Philip Blackwell, Kate Maple, and Beth Gilleland. A workshop production of The Mandrake was the March Experimental theatre offering.
Spring quarter began with Tennessee Williams’ Summer and 
Smoke directed by PhD student Leslie Ferris in the Stoll Thrust and My Kingdom Come followed in the Arena. The Contrast by Royall Tyler and directed by Kenneth Graham was the May production in the Proscenium and YPUT put on a roaring rendition of Rip Van Winkle, also in May. The Theatre workshop season ended with an ambitious production of The School for Wives directed by Niki Ciaccio. Theatre of the Word, directed by Jean Congdon, performed a dramatized Bread and Circuses dealing with the Federal Theatre of the 1930s. The production was selected to go on to Washington and perform at the John F. Kennedy Center.
The Peppermint Tent moved indoors to the Thrust theatre in the summer of 1976 with productions of American Folktales and Bean Bag Stories. Three actors representing the 1976 University Theatre Children’s Players traveled around Minnesota during the next year using material from the Tent production. A musical melodrama The Streets of New York was the Showboat presentation. This marked the first time an MFA design student was entrusted with the Showboat production design: Cathy Susan Pyles did the honors.
George M. Cohan’s mystery Seven Keys to Baldpate was the summer offering in the Thrust in Rarig. Elizabeth Nash joined our acting faculty and well-known alum, Larry Gates, was given a University Outstanding Achievement Award in June.
