Theatre Department, 1948-2020 | Earl H. and Anita F. Hess Archives and Special Collections

By Elizabeth McIlhenney ’19

Collection Overview

Title: Theatre Department, 1948-2020

ID: RG02/EC III A.2.1

Extent: 9.33 Linear Feet

Arrangement: Series 1: Senior Projects, 2008-2019 Series 2: Production Photographs and Videos, 1994-2020 Series 3: Production Posters (1992-2021) Series 4: Sock and Buskin Materials Series 5: Production Promotional Materials (1948-2019)

Date Acquired: 06/14/2021

Languages: English

Scope and Contents of the Materials

This collection consists of materials from the Elizabethtown College Theatre Department, with dates ranging from 1948 to 2020. Included are materials from the department’s activities, including programs, tickets, photographs, and promotional posters from Elizabethtown College productions. These productions include both the typical productions, as well as children’s plays. There are also materials and programs for theatre productions at nearby colleges and universities, Broadway in New York City, and visiting productions that came to Elizabethtown, put on by outside troupes. There are records from classes that were offered through the Theatre Department. This includes posters, flyers, tickets, photographs, and programs from senior projects between the years of 2008 and 2019. Additionally, there are varied materials from senior projects and student organizations. These student clubs and organizations include Sock and Buskin, the theatre club; E-Motion, the college’s dance club; as well as Alpha Psi Omega National Theatre Honor Society.

Collection Historical Note

The presence of theatre on Elizabethtown College’s campus began in the 1920s, beginning as a “literary society” called the Homerians, when they began to present Shakespeare productions, including a production of Macbeth in April 1927. In 1932, the theatre club, Sock and Buskin, was founded, and they began to sponsor productions as well. During this early period of the 20th century, theatre productions continued to be produced solely by student organizations. This changed in 1987, when the Theatre Department was established and began to offer classes such as Acting and Stagecraft. In 1993, a theatre minor was offered by the department. 10 years later, in 2003, a theatre major was added. After nearly twenty years, it was decided that as of the 2020-2021 academic year, the theatre program would be discontinued. The college ceased to offer a theatre major or minor.

Administrative Information

Repository: Earl H. and Anita F. Hess Archives and Special Collections

Acquisition Source: Theatre Deparment

Related Materials: Additional Theatre Department materials including programs, negatives, and newsletters are contained in RG02/EC III A.2, Box 6.

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Senior Projects, 2008-2019],
[Series 2: Production Photographs and Videos, 1994-2020],
[Series 3: Production Posters, 1992-2021],
[Series 4: Sock and Buskin Materials, 1972-2003],
[Series 5: Production Promotional Materials, 1948-2019],
[All]

Series 3: Production Posters, 1992-2021

This series contains production posters from the Theatre Department’s play productions, as well as various children’s productions, One Act festivals and Playwrights Fests that displayed the writing and directing talents of the students involved, and productions put on by the Sock and Buskin theatre club.

Box 4

Item 1: Proof by David Auburn, Spring 2021
Item 2: New Playwrights Festival 2021 - Spring 2021 (Live Streamed from the Chapel)
Item 3: That Theatre Thing (a Streamed Cabaret) - Fall 2020 (recorded at the Chapel)
Item 4: Silent Sky, Spring 2020
Item 5: Etown Shorts Fest VIII, Fall 2019
Item 6: Romeo & Juliet, Fall 2019
Item 7: Prometheus Burning, May 2019
Item 8: APO Charity Cabaret, April 2019
Item 9: Cripple of Inishmaan, Spring 2019
Item 10: New Playwright’s Fest, March 2019
Item 11: Love & Information, Spring 2019
Item 12: If/Then, Fall 2018
Item 13: Tyler Reading, July 2018
Item 14: Rat’s Tales, Spring 2018
Item 15: Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Spring 2018
Item 16: ShortsFest, December 2017
Item 17: Emotion Showcase, December 2017
Item 18: 12 Dates of Christmas, November 2017
Item 19: Medea, November 2017
Item 20: Kierra, May 2017
Item 21: Getting Out, April 2017
Item 22: Shadows on Wed, March 2017
Item 23: Playwrights Fest, March 2017
Item 24: Connor Burke, February 2017
Item 25: Fuddy Meers, February 2017
Item 26: Spring Awakening, October 2016
Item 27: Never Swim Alone, April 2016
Item 28: A Bright Room Called Day, April 2016
Item 29: Natty & Friends, March 2016
Item 30: Cargo Shorts, March 2016
Item 31: Unnecessary Farce, February 2016
Item 32: ShortsFest, November 2015
Item 33: Twelfth Night, October 2015
Item 34: Matt & Ben, May 2015
Item 35: Ajax in Iraq, April 2015
Item 36: Playwright’s Fest, March 2015
Item 37: The Importance of Being Earnest, February 2015
Item 38: Company, Fall 2014
Item 39: Tall Green Plumber, May 2014
Item 40: Agatha Christie’s A Murder is Announced, April 2014
Item 41: That’s So Gay, March 2014
Item 42: These Shining Lives, February 2014
Item 43: ShortsFest, November 2013
Item 44: A Comedy of Terrors, Fall 2013
Item 45: Playwrights Fest, April 2013
Item 46: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Spring 2013
Item 47: Fade to Black, March 2013
Item 48: Distracted, February 2013
Item 49: A Streetcar Named Desire, November 2012
Item 50: Lysistrata, Spring 2012
Item 51: DJ Littell, March 2012
Item 52: 3 Comic Shorts, February 2012
Item 53: From Up Here, February 2012
Item 54: ShortsFest, November 2011
Item 55: All in the Timing, November 2011
Item 56: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Fall 2011
Item 57: Playwrights Fest, April 2011
Item 58: A Dream Play, April 2011
Item 59: Red Herring, February 2011
Item 60: ShortsFest, November 2010
Item 61: Complete Weeks, November 2010
Item 62: Cabaret, October 2010
Item 63: The Crucible, April 2010
Item 64: Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, Spring 2010
Item 65: ShortsFest, November 2009
Item 66: The Memorandum, Fall 2009
Item 67: 9 Parts of Desire, April 2009
Item 68: Playwrights Fest, March 2009
Item 69: Tempest, February 2009
Item 70: Weightless, November 2008
Item 71: Urinetown, November 2008
Item 72: Yearning to Breathe, April 2008
Item 73: Anne Frank, April 2008
Item 74: Limbo Project, April 2008
Item 75: Caffe e Manoscritti, 2007
Item 76: ShortsFest, December 2007
Item 77: Never Have I…, November 2007
Item 78: Gint, November 2007
Item 79: Hair, April 2007
Item 80: Arcadia, November 2006
Item 81: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Spring 2006
Item 82: One Acts, December 2005
Item 83: Twelfth Night, Fall 2005
Item 84: LoneStar/Laundry & Bourbon, Spring 2005
Item 85: One Acts, February 2005
Item 86: Metamorphoses, Fall 2004
Item 87: On The Verge, November 2003
Item 88: Godspell, April 2003
Item 89: The Laramie Project, Fall 2002
Item 90: A Piece of My Heart, April 2002
Item 91: Crimes of the Heart, Fall 2001
Item 92: Starmites, April 2001
Item 93: Marat/Sade, Fall 2000
Item 94: The Heidi Chronicles, Spring 2000
Item 95: Quilters, November 1999
Item 96: The Children's Hour, Spring 1999
Item 97: So Long at the Faire, Fall 1998
Item 98: Fashion! or Life in New York, Fall 1997
Item 99: Under Milkwood by Dylan Thomas, Spring 1997
Item 100: Moliere's Scapino!, Fall 1996
Item 101: Inherit the Wind, April 1996
Item 102: Scenes for an Autumn Eve, Fall 1995
Item 103: Bus Stop, Spring 1995
Item 104: West Side Story, November 1994
Item 105: The Hostage, November 1993
Item 107: The Crucible, November 1992
Item 108: The Runner Stumbles, 1981

Box 5

Item 1: Elizabethtown College Theatre and Dance Division Sock and Buskin posters
Item 2: Brigadoon
Item 3: Antigone poster
Item 4: Top Twelve Reasons Why We Love Twelfth Night
Item 5: The Fifth Annual Student Directed One-Act Play Festival
Item 6: The Sixth Annual Student Directed One-Act Play Festival
Item 7: The Seventh Annual Student Directed One-Act Play Festival
Item 8: The Eighth Annual Student Directed One-Act Play Festival
Item 9: The Twelfth Annual Student Directed One-Act Play Festival
Item 10: The Fourteenth Annual Student Directed One-Act Play Festival
Item 11: The Student Directed One-Act Play Festival, no date
Item 12: The Student Directed One-Act Play Festival, no date
Item 13: The Student Directed One-Act Play Festival, no date
Item 14: Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day, 2004
Item 15: Charlotte’s Web, 2005
Item 16: Pinocchio, 2006
Item 17: Afternoon of the Elves, no date
Item 18: Piece of Mind, no date