Seventy-five years ago, we launched University Theatre’s first season as both a laboratory for our students and a way of thinking critically about the world. Twenty years ago, dance joined theatre to become one department, and ever since, we have investigated the intersections between the two disciplines, which has helped redefine the very meaning of performance. The 75:20 events of April 28-30 showed quite well what it has really taken to achieve these landmarks: an extraordinary faculty, adventuresome students and accomplished alumni.

It was indeed a pleasure watching you reconnect with each other. I was constantly reminded that members of this department have always had the ability to use their imaginations as artists, and at the same time have demonstrated an incredible commitment to make their art, their scholarship and their education matter as both a process of self-discovery and a way of engaging with what is going on in the world outside the theatre.

I listened to Charles Nolte read from his journal one day after seeing an afternoon of original performances by our current students. I overheard all of you sharing memories animatedly at the dinner, followed an hour later by our students’ wonderful performance of Cabaret. All this truly reaffirmed my optimism about the department’s future. With such a rich past and an eventful present, how can we not have a strong future as both an excellent place to create and learn the performing arts, and an intellectual and artistic leader in the Twin Cities arts community?

So, again, from all of our students and faculty, thank you for helping us celebrate our first 75 years. More important, thanks for helping us imagine our next 75.

Sincerely,

Michal Kobialka
Professor and Chair

This is Erin Scott (98). I am looking forward to the upcoming gathering. After teaching in Savannah for 2 1/2 years, I am back in Los Angeles playing the adjunct professor game (also known as the freeway fliers for the amount of time spent driving from different colleges!)

I have strayed from theatre and moved to film. I made my first film last year, collaborating with my brother. We won Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee and screened at East Lansing Film Festival, and Black Maria (a traveling festival).

I still think of the alma mater every time I get a paycheck from my contract work at American Public Media (the check says Minnesota Public Radio). I love it! In my wildest dreams working as a sound ta, I would’ve
never thought I’d be working radio, especially NPR!!

Best Wishes!
Erin Scott

April is upon us and it's time to take another look at who will be attending the 75:20 Reunion, April 28-30. There's still time to register. Just go to www.7520.umn.edu and click on "events" where you can download a registration form.

Michael & Katie Beery
Richard & Judy Borgen
Michael Boyden
Tessie Bundick
Steve Cardamone
Dan Cashman
Jon Cranney
Carolynne Darling
Catherine C. Davis
Ann Del Vecchio-McDonogh
Doug & Donna Eichten
Michael Ellison
Sarah Erickson
David Feldshuh
Donn/Mali Finn
Daniel Fogelberg
Kirsten Frantzich
Debra Gluesing
Peter Michael Goetz
Sheldon Goldstein
Gary Heyer
Lawrence J. Hill
Jann Iaco
Judith Brin Ingber
John & Marliynn Tammi
Wendell & Elizabeth Josal
John Justad
Linda Kelsey
Pamela Kidahl
Katherine Kohl
Edward & Rhonda Krehl
Scott Latendresse
Matt LeFebvre
Rachael Lindhart
Jenna Lordo
Helen Manfull
Joseph Meischer
Pam Mitman
David-Michael Monasch
Jean Montgomery
Maggie Moulton
Michelle Myers Berg
Paul & Patti Newman
Charles Nolte
Darlene Faye Olson
Annie Ozega
Stephen Peabody
Gerald Roe
Robert Scales
Erin Scott
Luverne Seifert
Robert Skloot
Lila Smith
Karen Spahn
Margaret Mohn Spear
Sara Stiles
Carole Peterson Wendt

If you're pondering whether or not to attend the big 75:20 Reunion, April 28-30, here's a arm-twisting list of alumni and faculty who have already registered. And there's still time to register. Just visit http://7520.umn.edu/events.html and download your very own registration form.

Michael & Katie Beery
C. Lance Brockman
Tessie Bundick
Steve Cardamone
Carolynne Darling
Ann Del Vecchio-McDonogh
Sarah Erickson
David Feldshuh
Donn/Mali Finn
Peter Michael Goetz
Lawrence J. Hill
Jann Iaco
Wendell & Elizabeth Josal
Michal Kobialka
Katherine Kohl
Rachael Lindhart
Helen Manfull
Joseph Meischer
Jean Montgomery
Maggie Moulton
Michelle Myers Berg
Paul & Patti Newman
Charles Nolte
Darlene Faye Olson
Annie Ozega
Stephen Peabody
Gerald Roe
Robert Scales
Luverne Seifert
Robert Skloot

A few Rorschach memories:

2 summers on the showboat – Hazel Kirke and The Belle of New York.

The best: sitting on the taffrail, feet up, silly uniform shirt untucked, after a show with a frosty adult beverage and watching the river in the moonlight.

The worst: Looking up one Sunday afternoon and seeing the whirling clouds of a tornado directly overhead.

Rarig: “The bomb shelter”

The Best: The merry pranksters: John Justad, Janet Ryger, Scott Latandresse, Greg Trochlil, Todd Hensley, Tom Thatcher and all the rest.

The Worst: evening calls in the scene shop….

Cedar Riverside:

The best: Pumperniks Deli, the Triangle, Culla’s

The worst: Parking!

Alumns:

They were all the best! I loved working with Lee Walker ( God rest his good and merry soul), Julia Fischer, Tessie Bundig, and bunches more.

Practical Joke:

The best ( a tie): welding a stolen concrete squirrel into CLB’s locker, and the deflating the dome party.

The worst: I’m not sure the statute of limitations is out on this one yet….

Thesis Show (Billy Budd)

The best: Working with Charles Nolte -- especially during Tech rehearsals.

The worst: Having two weeks of techs!

Saturday morning donuts, getting a microwave for the Boat!, visiting the old boilers from the Showboat at their new home in New Orleans, Riding the buffing machines in the shop to clean the floor every quarter, setting Lance's pants on fire with welding sparks!

I wish all of you the best on your reunion. I hope to make it but it is unlikely as I will be IN technical rehearsals for an opera.

My personal apologies to anyone who ever had to appear in my work.

Peter Largen, Class of '84

Well, now I have proof. I'm the little blonde being menaced by John and his cohorts in the pic shown for the 1983-84 season. Thank you for memories.

We all had a little crush on the very-married Mr. Loprieno!

Joan Lee
one of the "Stale Faces" that graduated on the "five-year" plan with a BA in
Theatre Arts in 1985

I retired in 1994, traveled for a while and am currently residing in Edina.

For the past several years I have been writing a filmscript on the life of Giuseppe Verdi, widely accepted as one of the music world's greatest composers of opera. Lesser known is the fact that he was also one of the leading lights in the revolution, unification and independence of Italy in the middle and late l800's. The progress of the filmscript continues to be demanding but delightful.

Doc was driving. Anyone who ever rode with Doc will now feel a chill of fear. Doc was, to put it mildly, an adventurous driver. Fast and erratic. The vehicle was a University of Minnesota van filled with dancers on the way to a performance at Northwestern University. Our leader and choreographer was Bob Moulton. I remember Bill Phelps was among the passengers. At every opportunity, the group would urge me to take over the driving. They were terrified. I was the only other person legally qualified to drive. I had a license and I was an employee of the University; at the time I worked at the library. I kept asking Doc if he were tired of driving; I told him I would be happy to take over. "Oh, no," he said jauntily, "I love to drive." At one point he told me he loved to pass cars on a hill because it was exciting not knowing what was coming the other way. I have to assume he was joking because he never did pass on a hill during our long, long ride to and from Evanston, and he never once let go of that steering wheel.

I will never forget Bob Moulton. I first met him when he designed and fitted the gorgeous gowns I wore in the French play, "Le Medecin Malgre Lui." I played Lucinde, the ingenue, and daughter of the "medecin" played by Bill Hillard. A wonderful actor with a brilliant mind. He later became a good friend. I
was new to the theatre then. Having the charismatic costume designer Professor Moulton at my feet pinning and measuring and tugging away to make the gowns perfect was almost more of a thrill than I could stand. My theatrical experience was limited, having just recently left my hometown of Litchfield,
Minnesota, population 5,000: "large enough to serve you, small enough to know you" was the town motto. Wearing those beautiful gowns with their huge hoop skirts and outfitted with a white upswept wig, I couldn't have had a more lovely entry into the University of Minnesota theater world. And all in French, no less.

END PART ONE, MORE TO COME

Of course, I attended a performance of "Marco Millions" .. proud of my boy friend's acting. I was also struck by Lorraine "Tiny" Steiner's portrayal of a prostitute. Though I was a little bit shocked, I figured I must really be sophisticated to be able to watch such carryings on. Those were more innocent times. I was also amazed by the wonderful acting of Richard Halverson as Kublai Khan. I had seen a few plays in high school; I was even in one. But this was much different. This was a quality of performance beyond anything I'd seen before. Halverson went on to have a very successful career in regional theater. The great theater critic Brooks Atkinson praised his work highly at the Cleveland Playhouse. Atkinson almost never looked at any production outside of Broadway so it was quite noteworthy that he saw and wrote about Halverson's work.

After we married, Bill and I went to New York to try our luck in show business. I ended up working in television as a producer and writer on shows that included the Today Show, the David Frost Show, and the Jack Paar Show. My first foray into TV, however, came at the University. I played a leopard in an odd
little show called "The Blob." Myron "Mo" Odegaard played the blob. The whole thing was directed by Jerry Rumley. The details have faded but I do recall that I had a costume with a tail and that I entered from camera right -- backwards. I believe I was dancing or doing something that vaguely resembled dancing. We all thought it was quite avant garde. Bill, meanwhile, did something for stage and TV, which was much more serious and made more sense. Frank Sturcken directed him in a one act play titled "Hello, Out There." Bill played a tortured young man in jail being visited by his girl friend. The play was televised and was well received. I learned later that for years it had been shown to student actors and directors as an example of good work for television. (I would be grateful if anyone could find a copy of that show.)

MORE TO COME ..

If Bill were here, he would share his memories of our student days, too. He might talk about playing the lead in "Bodas de Sangre." That role was especially challenging -- he didn't speak Spanish. Fortunately, he had an ear for the accent and his sister, Ruth, who had taught Spanish in high school, helped him memorize his lines, and understand them.

I bet he'd write about the time I, his new girl friend, worked on one of his stage crews. All theater students had to put in time on a crew and I was assigned to Bill's. I forget the show but it being presented in the little theater downstairs at Scott Hall. We decided to pretend we were barely acquainted so as not to cause any talk among the other crew members. That worked fine until Bill discovered that in my fervor, I had screwed a flat to the floor. That, Bill explained gently in tones one might use to a small child, was not well done. The screw was meant to be attached to the flat, not to the flat AND the floor. The other crew members got a kick out of the exchange, as it was immediately clear we were more than mere acquaintances. I told him later he was lucky I hadn't had a hammer in my hand at the time.

We both remember what a strict disciplinarian Merle Loppnow was. He taught us by word and example that the theater was serious business. You did your job, on time, and you did it well. Curtains went up on time. If the show was to start at 7pm, by cracky, that curtain went up at 7pm or else. And, you showed
up on time for rehearsals and of course for performances. Those habits worked well for us no matter what careers we followed. Having said that, I have to say the first time Bill and I went to a Broadway show (West Side Story), we were amazed to discover that the curtain did not go up at 8pm sharp. It rose at
ten after eight. Big surprise. Bill found out when he was cast in Broadway and off Broadway shows that a strict discipline did apply. You showed up on time for everything .. and the curtain always went up on time: at ten after eight, sharp.

MORE TO COME..

I had a wonderful time at the University of Minnesota. I danced and sang and acted in dozens of shows, big and small. I found my lifelong partner, Bill, and I learned a great deal from the teachers, artists, and friends I met there.

THE END

When I arrived in the fall of 1975, the move from Scott Hall had been made, and the systems needed to turn the cold, hulking, Rarig Center into Minnesota's largest (in the number of performance spaces) theatre complex, were being developed.

As I recall, we were doing a show in each theatre, each quarter and the production schedule was brutal! The effects of the last-minute budget cuts on the building were encountered at every turn. The shops were too small, backstage space tight or non-existent, and equipment scarce. Production staff was minimal and every grad student wanted to act, direct or design in every theatre, every quarter! Coming from a small, liberal arts college theatre program, I was a little unprepared for the rules, regulations, and forms, that were needed to keep a large university program running. Needless to say, there was quite a bit of tension as the faculty came to grips with the new building, the pending retirement and replacement of several senior faculty, the shape of the program, and know-it-all grad students, like me.

I didn't fully understand the pressures under which Jean and Lance were working until I graduated and began teaching and running a production program at a college, myself. How they could produce so much theatre, with so few resources still amazes me! Over time, adjustments in schedules, budgets, staffing and program directions have been made and the program has found its place and grown stronger.

The 1970s were amazing years in the United States. The ending of the Vietnam War, the energy crisis, Watergate, the explosion of arts including the regional theatre movement, were very real to students and faculty at the time. The distance between faculty and students was much more narrow than it is today and, I think, there was also less separation between personal and professional lives. This made work at the University and at other colleges and universities of the time very much focused on relationships.

Looking back, I especially value the way the faculty in the Theatre Department at the University of Minnesota took me seriously as a theatre artist, and provided both the discipline and encouragement that I needed as I began my own professional career. Special thanks must go to Lance Brockman, Jean Montgomery, and also to the late Wes Balk, for whom I designed the set for Happy End in the Stoll, my first "real" design.

Steve Griffith, M.F.A. '77

Chair, Department of Theatre and Dance
Gustavus Adolphus College

Although it has been a very long time ago that I had one of the very best opportunities of my life to participate in the U of M Theatre Department, The Guthrie Theatre, as well as The Children's Theatre, Theatre in the Round and many others in the Twin Cities; I have never forgotten how much those years have affected my life and my career. The first year of my graduate assistantship put me into a very foreign environment, but I can still remember my first sewing assignment in great detail: a pink tutu for You Can't Take It With You. For a student with a scenery and lighting emphasis, I didn't quite understand; however, the costume skills I learned at U of M were instrumental in landing several of my first design gigs as well as in securing my first two teaching jobs in scenery and lighting, because both included costume design .

I too participated in the move to Rarig Center with Greg Bell and many others and wondered at the time how the building could ever develop into a warm and viable space for performance. It seemed so cold and empty at first; just endless concrete, no master floor plans, no sections, no light boards. Lance Brockman gave so much in the early years and our class did not cut him any slack. I could only appreciate much later what he and the other faculty members were going through at that complex and demanding time.

The connections made at U of M were the major springboard that fueled my career. Working with Lance, Gene Montgomery, Warren Frost, Jack Barkla, Julian Phillips and others, provided an artistically rich and rewarding experience that I have never forgotten. Although I have lost direct contact with all of the faculty and the class of '75 over the years, they have always remained a major part of my artistic and professional foundation.

Joseph S. Rusnock
Associate Chair
Associate Artistic Director
UCF Conservatory Theatre
University of Central Florida
Department of Theatre
(407)-823-2399
P.O. Box 162372
Orlando, Florida 32816-2372
FAX (407)823-6446
jrusnock@mail.ucf.edu

I got a call from Dr. Josal a few weeks ago about sending a rendering and a bio to Lance Brockman, but I thought it was just to fill up some empty wall space somewhere. I put the note up on the wall. So of course I just got a reminder email from Lance yesterday. He mentioned the Anniversary, and the blog. So I checked it out as well as the pages of history on the theatre department's website. It really brought back memories. And I promise I'll send something soon to add to the display.

I loved Minneapolis, the University, and the Theatre department. This was just before Rarig...so I did all that running around..from the Armory Annex to Nicholson to Scott Hall to Folwell and God knows where else. I had forgotten so much. But I've always had a really warm spot in my heart for my time there. One big memory was designing THE MADMAN AND THE NUN, directed by this crazy New Yorker (Joe Rassulo?) and featuring another crazy New Yorker, Ron Perlman. Anyone else remember it? Those years were a really good time...concentrated study and creation of theatre.

When I got the call that I had been awarded a Bush Fellowship a door was opening for me that I never expected and didn't fully appreciate. But it changed my life, and led to a career in entertainment that hasn't stopped. It's taken some funny turns...don't get me wrong...but my time there taught me (as much as anything else) that theatre and the performing arts could be a passion and a profession. The hard part would be making it a profession. Well, so far so good.

I'll check in occasionally and keep up with the blog...and hope that I can get away to come to the celebration in the spring.

Sincerely
Gregory Hill

As I go through the history of the department that is posted on this website, my life flashes before my eyes and the memory of some of the antics that various students have pulled during the Rarig years just makes me smile. I will never forget the "Lowering the Dome Party" thrown by my staff two weeks after the official celebration of the inflation of the Metrodome--it was a downtown event. It seems an early snowstorm overloaded the fabric roof tearing a sizeable hole while the press gave us a live, blow-by-blow description of the deflating of the dome. The next day on my way to the shop for top of the hour, I passed all of the caution and warning signs that a "lowering of the dome party" was taking place. Well, of course when I went in the shop the staff had draped plastic from all of the sprinkler pipes, loaded the plastic with snow, had buckets collecting the water as they threw snow balls at each other--they did have on safety helmets. Not the glorious celebration of two weeks previous but certainly a fitting conclusion for the first inflation/deflation of the dome.

I also remember those wonderful times on Saturday mornings (we don't do that any more) with donuts and cranky crew kids--I still remember the student that called in and could not come to work because his parakeet died--a mantra that still lives. On a Saturday before Easter, Scott Letendresse dressed up as an Easter bunny and greeted the stunned students as they entered. He wouldn't let them have a donut until they found a dyed Easter egg that he had hidden in the shop. Or the time that Janet Ryger was crossing the bridge during "Safe Sex" week and after repeated passes, she had pockets full of condums. She then inflated as many as she could and filled my locker. Of course, the best part was the staff waiting until I came in for work, opened my locker, and then to see my reaction as the "balloons" bounced across the floor.

I have celebrated three decades of birthdays with students and one of the main reasons that I go to USITT every year is to reconnect, laugh, and to pinch myself as a reminder of the wonderful and caring students that have graced my path. To be able to share so much of this with my valued colleague Jean Montgomery (afterall, we were hired at the same time and were told that they took Doc's salary on his retirement and split it between us--we also knew there must have been a lot of money left over) has made the memories that much richer. Come back and see us. April 29th and 30th needs to be on your calendar--you are missed and it will be great to venture down memory lane together. Best to all of you, 'See' Lance Brockman

The following entries to the blog are previously submitted comments from alumni of the Department. Please read away and enjoy. Feel free to comment on any of the postings by clicking "comment" at the bottom of each entry. Or, you may e-mail your Rarig Memories to justin@umn.edu for posting.

Cheers,
Justin Christy

My years at the U were marked by many incredibly caring people, one is lucky to have a mentor, I had three. Doc Whiting, Robert Moulton and Charles Nolte, all welcomed me into their lives and their generousity influences my actions today and every day. I�ve been truly blessed. In addition, David Thompson, Lee Adey, Kenneth Graham, Virginia Fredericks, Jeanne Gongdon, Lance Brockman, Gino Montgomery, Wes Balk, Elizabeth Nash, Wendal Josal, Dale Huffington, Vern Sutton� all went out of their way, took time, invested their enthusiasm and love in this local boy. I am forever grateful.

I am a storyteller not a writer but here are some topics that might elicit some response from alums.

Arthur Ballet�s 101 in Scott Auditorium
Air Condition free acting and movement
Classes Spring Quarters in Westbrook Hall
Fencing with Tezla
Lee Adey�s directing classes in the Annex on University Ave.
Wes Balk�s �Shakespeare Games� vs. Augsburg College in Shevlin Arena
The loan play library
My first ever acting class was conducted by Bush-McKnight fellow by the name of Peter Michael Goetz
Doc Whiting�s unforgettable production of the Steven Foster Story on the Showboat and his Peter Quince in a very forgettable Midsummer Night�s Dream that same summer.
Acting for the camera with Warren Frost (Warren called me into his office, told me he thought I was a nice guy and I should get out of the business before I got hurt. Subsequently, he cast me as Renfield in his hit production of Dracula at Chimera Theatre and then played by daddy, H. C. Curry in the Gurthrie�s 1986, The Rainmaker.)
Bob Moulton�s movement classes
�Errol Flynn�s Revenge,� Fencing and Staged Combat Recitals Spring Quarters �76 and �77.

Peter Thoemke

Tom Hegg

Courtney Peterson

Todd Hensley

But more importantly, it is the costume shop family that lives in my memory. Kegan, Joanne, Joe, Tony, Barbara, Sara, Estelle, Brenda and everyone else who called the shop their home from home� not to mention the array of students struggling through their sewing samples and mandatory shop hours� these are the people who offered daily support, humor and insight. These are the people who created the golden hue that colors my time at Rarig. Living on jet-fuel strength coffee and theme-based potluck snack parties, we spent our work shifts, our class breaks and time when we should have been in other classes creating stunning costumes and amazing friendships. Even though I haven�t seen these people in years, I miss them and think of our time together often.

Guthrie Hebenstreit (U of M 1990-1994)

I couldn�t wait to set foot in Rarig Center and to be surrounded by the world of theatre. I was duly impressed; never had I been in a building that housed 4 theatres and sported a photo of Loni Anderson on the wall! I have many fond memories of my time there. I was enthralled by Arthur Ballet�s lectures in the Intro. to the Theatre class. I was proud to master the table saw and the band saw down in the prop shop. I enjoyed every night of running costumes for �Jacques Brel.� When I look back, it�s hard to believe that I was so na�ve and easily impressed in 1975. However, the theatre, the university and Rarig Center were impressive to me and I remember them with a smile.

Pat L. Wontorski

I played Mina in Dracula on the Showboat in 1991 � and this was the old Showboat � the old listing, cramped, stiflingly hot, creaky-scary-wonderful Showboat. We each got a different cleaning job every day, and the worst was cleaning spiders off the decks. You�d sweep them away one day and they�d come back in full force the next, only bigger and more tenacious. Since they�d roost in the rafters (and I say �roost,� as each was approximately the size and heft of a small pigeon) you would have to brush them with a broom, but kind of lean forward and jab at them so they wouldn�t fall on your head. I remember trying to convince our Captain, Greg Smucker, that since we were performing Dracula, the spiders were entirely appropriate and should be left where they were for atmosphere! (He wasn�t fooled.)

It was a very hot summer, most of us were costumed in wool, and only half the air conditioners worked at any given time. By the end of the show our makeup would have melted, and our clothes would be sopping wet. (It was difficult to maintain the illusion we were in chilly autumnal Europe.) Creighton Larson, who was playing Dr. Van Helsing, would actually swim in the Mississippi between Sunday shows, even though we warned him he might sprout another eye or something as a result.

Once during the show I was standing on a riverside deck and saw a rubber ducky floating down the Mississippi.

When I first started at Rarig, in 1988, the �pit� was filled with those hideous red, yellow and orange cushion chairs that looked like giant Starburst fruit chews. Hideous to look at, yes � ripped and tacky as hell, but great for taking naps between classes or before a rehearsal. Plus smoking was still allowed, so when you�d descend the staircase you�d look down on this hazy tableau of students sprawled all over the naugahyde furniture�sleeping, rehearsing, smoking, flirting, relaxing, stressing�
Smoking was banned in the building before I was a Senior, and the ill-favored couches were eventually removed � one could argue that both were victories on the side of good taste, but now it seems kind of sterile: a place for a theater patron to spend intermission, not a place for a student to live and lounge.

My freshman year at the U of MN was the last year the theater department used Scott Hall. A strong memory from those days is from the next year, when we were inaugurating Rarig but still had offices on the East Bank. Although I was interested in the acting courses, technical theater was a prerequisite to any classes beyond beginning acting. I was �serving� my 40 hours of tech theater at the field house � where sets were built and then, previously, hauled over to Scott Hall. This was to be the last set built there and was going to be hauled over to Rarig for a show in the proscenium.
I was definitely NOT handy in the set shop � a talent I�ve maintained all these years. I couldn�t nail a board straight if my life depended on it. The head techie carefully drew me up a diagram of a mail box for me to build. He encouraged me to use all my creativity and seek as little help from him as possible. While I struggled, using a good 8 hours to build this simple box, I wondered where in the play it would be used. When I finally sanded and painted this primitive thing I brought it over to my mentor who looked it over and then instructed me to go over to Nicholson Hall and nail it up outside his office. (It turned out to be the perfect entre to what I would be doing the following summer � be an intern at the Stagecoach where I would primarily clean paintbrushes and wash out buckets.)

Toward the end of my career as a sophomore actor/techie we spent our time loading all the things at the dusty field house on to trucks, vans and everyone�s cars and hauling them over to Rarig, the new state of the art theater building.

Aaron Milgrom
B.A. in Theater Arts
1972-1976

I suspect I won the prize for the lighting department�s example of �what not to do when lighting a show.� For my MFA senior project (JB Priestley�s TIME AND THE CONWAYS), I was given a show with detailed sets and costumes and a notoriously simple lighting plot (the faculty had spotted my weakness as soon as I walked through the doors) performed in the Areana, my favorite theater at Rarig. Thinking I was utilizing materials and instruments very efficiently, I emptied the barrels and used every single cable available for the Arena. The lighting students wouldn�t speak to me for several weeks afterwards without making cracks about �spaghetti in the sky�.�

We had drawing class at a humorless 8 am twice a week with Lance Brockman. It was actually a wonderful, relaxing class and we could come out of it totally in our right brains (remember that?) and very foggy. One assignment was to find a detail of architecture to sketch within Rarig. After a few months in that building, we were all so tired of concrete that this was an extremely trying assignment. I did finally find one intriguingly angled and braced corner of the upstairs ceiling that spoke to me, serving to remind me of the passion behind this architecture of the brutal. I added grey to my basic 80�s black wardrobe the very next day.

My tenure at Rarig also included serving as rehearsal accompanist for the department. We were holding auditions in the proscenium for �Working� by Studs Terkel on particularly star-crossed evening, and had had a spateful of creaky auditionees. Our final act, the one who totally shut us down, was a man who had himself grandly introduced by his �manager,� handed me his music (�The Candyman�) and proceeded to deliver this inane piece, complete with props. I slowed to a finish after the proscribed eight bars, but he slipped the clutch and drove the whole seven verses. The student director closed the doors immediately after he left, there was a brief silence, then we laughed until we cried.

Other quickie memories:
--Dave Doersch (our resident stage combat freak) (sorry, Dave) jumping from the second balcony down to the Pit cushions (a lovely orange naugahyde in those days);
--my son, Aaron, one of the resident Child Actors for the department during this time, supplementing his meager allowance with change he collected by crawling under the vending machines (yuch);
--my older son Bryan enraged that he had to attend school sporting a �20s-style wedge haircut for his �Six Characters in Search of an Author� role; the next year, a year too late in his books, the style was the trend;
--taking advantage of a low Mississippi River in 1988 that caused the Showboat stage to list several degrees to one side, and playing the accompaniment faster when the singers had to climb up the rake in the oleos, heh, heh.

� Kathy Kohl�s memories of Rarig, 1984-1987

� Sally Wingert

One of my fondest memories harkens back to the days on the old showboat. I was playing in a production of Pinero�s �Dandy Dick� with, among others, Beth Gilleland and Billy Blieseth. Our director was Charles Nolte.

Billy loved to go fishing off the back of the boat, and one day he caught a particularly ugly carp. Later that night at the performance the carp made and unexpected appearance onstage in a bucket that was supposed to be full of oats to feed the title character (a horse!). Needless to say with Beth�s notorious inability to keep a straight face in such situations, we all had a hard time keeping any sort of plot going!

Also:

One of my favorite dance partners in a Robert Moulton musical was the former artistic director of �Eye of the Storm� theater, Casey Stangl. We were paired in a production of Cole Porter�s �Kiss Me Kate,� with, among others, Lee Walker, Sally Bublitz and Ken Risch. It is a little known fact that Ms. Stangl was quite a hoofer early in her career!

And again:

My favorite performance experience at Rarig was a production in the Nolte Theatre of �Marat/Sade� directed by the late Stephen Hults with Sally Wingert as Charlotte Corday, Casey Stangl (again!) with me in the vocal quartet and musical director Dawn Baker. A wild show!

� Michael Koerner

To name a few memories that might evoke some of your own:

In the Thrust:
Charles Nolte directed me as a birdlike Tiresias in Oedipus with phenomenal set and costume designs by Desmond Heeley.
Under Steven Kanee�s direction I tackled Madame Ranevsky in The Cherry Orchard, with my own miniature dachsund, Higgins (17 years old now and still going strong) as �the dog.� People told me he stole the opening scene, staring into the audience. And he charmed everyone in the dressing room.

In the Experimental (Black Box):
As a director, I agonized over the ramifications of stripping John Bentley to his skivvies in The Dreams of Clytemnestra. Not to mention casting Raga with her Icelandic accent as the heroine of an Italian update of a Greek tragedy. A lot of people told me they didn�t have a clue what the show was about, but some said they �loved� how daring it was stylistically. I had a blast with it!

In the Arena: (Hands down, best memories for me.)
Working with Julia Fischer and a handful of super MFAs to create (write) Beauty and the Beast. Seeing that script produced elsewhere after that made it clear what an amazing cooperative artistic project it was!
And, of course, some juicy cameos and plum roles in Le Belle Soeur, Restoration and Ghosts.

In Whiting:
My Rarig debut was as Madame Armfeldt in A Little Night Music. The music was glorious and turned me into a Sondheim fan.
TA for Intro to Theatre 101� I never want to hear (or give) another lecture on Euripedes or Neo-Classicism or Slice of Life, etc. But I did get a lot of knitting done in the back. In fact, I took second prize at the state fair in �93 for a sweater knit almost entirely in Rarig!

There were so many great productions, so much �DRAMA� in the �pit,� and so much talent coming and going. Whenever one of those faces shows up on the big or small screen these days, I can say, �I was in a show with him/her back in��

Thanks for the memories.

Miriam Monasch

For Grusha�s flight through the mountains, six males lifted a platform a bridge up to an impressive height of about nine feet and I, as Grusha, had to step onto this floating bridge, and was ushered across the stage to an equally high precipice on the other side � singing, and holding a baby.

�Deep is the abyss son, I feel the weak bridge sway�� I felt the bridge sway, believe you me.

As an illuminating example of Brecht�s theory of alienation, Esslin told us that in Brecht�s production, the effect of real danger was absent. The bridge was a short plank, two feet off the ground.

� Beth Gilleland (1980 grad)

Hello alumni and friends of the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance, and welcome to our new blog. This blog was made especially for you to reunite and reminisce about your time at the University of Minnesota. For those of you who are unfamiliar with blogging, please refer to our online instruction page. Otherwise, I hope you all enjoy this new resource and are able to keep the conversations flowing, leading up to our big 75:20 reunion April 28-30, 2006. Please carry on this conversation by entering a comment (click on the word comment) at the end of this message.

And don't forget to browse and enjoy the new 7520.umn.edu!