Summer Theatre turns 50

This year marks the golden anniversary of Emporia State University Summer Theatre.
To celebrate the past 50 years, an Open House and a Celebration Reception will be held on Saturday, June 12, for alumni, faculty, students, and friends of Summer Theatre.

“We couldn’t do summer theatre without the people in the community and our audiences,” said Su J Mai, the Acting Director of Theatre. “These two celebrations are part of our thank you to them.”

The Open House will be from 1:00 to 5:00 that afternoon, giving the public an opportunity to see behind the stage with tours of the Karl C. Bruder theatre, scene shop, costume shop, and catacombs in King Hall. The Ronald Q. Frederickson Black Box Theatre and the Inez P. Friesen Rehearsal Studio in Roosevelt Hall will also be open for tours.

“The Open House is to thank the public and invite them to come in, see what we do, and be our guest,” said Mai.

The Celebration Reception will be held in the Memorial Union Skyline Dinging Room following the 8:00 p.m. production of Our Town.

As a tribute to its fiftieth season, ESU Summer Theatre is bringing back some of its best-loved shows. On June 9, the season begins with Our Town, first performed by the ESU Summer Theatre in during its first season. The Odd Couple, To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday and The Fantasticks round out the summer.

Summer theatre has been an ongoing tradition since 1955, when Karl C. Bruder created the Summer Theatre program at Kansas State Teachers College. That summer, Bruder scheduled eight shows in eight weeks and five performances per show in Albert Taylor Hall.

Summer Theatre continued in Albert Taylor Hall until 1967, when the Karl C. Bruder Theatre was completed. As a tribute, a revival of Bruder’s first show from the first season, Harvey, was performed. By then, the summer stock company had cut back to six shows per season.

During the 1980s, Summer Theatre experimented with “theatre in rep”; that is, instead of producing one show at a time, the company produced multiple shows and performed a different one each night. Complications were numerous. Logistically, the company had to find storage space for multiple sets. Confused audience members would realize only after the curtains opened that the show they expected was actually playing on a different night. The experiment was abandoned, and Summer Theatre adopted its current format of four shows per season, with one show every two weeks.

This format has proved to be successful during the past twenty years. In 2003 alone, the Karl C. Bruder Theatre hosted audience members from more than 75 different Kansas cities and 15 different states.

Though the company plays to a nearly full-house every night, ticket sales barely begin to cover the costs of production.

“There perhaps is a misconception due to audience attendance that Summer Theatre is an overwhelming profitable undertaking. When in fact, with ever raising production costs, we are in constant need of donor support,” said Jim Ryan, a professor of theatre. “Other universities are fazing out summer theatre productions and yet ESU fervently holds to their grand tradition.”

The Tom and Freda Butcher Summer Theatre Fund was established to help cover some of the production costs and to pay for the occasional guest artist. To further assist the students, the Theatre Guild is striving to raise funds for academic scholarships.

“These funds help students with their expenses during the year so their earnings from part-time jobs can go towards living expenses during the Summer Theatre season,” explained Mai. “We are able to offer free housing, but many students have leases they are obligated to fulfill. And they still have their own basic expenses they must be able to meet.”

Those students also benefit from being part of the program.

“It is an excellent training ground for your students,” said Mai. “This really tells them if they want to do theatre because they do it night and day. A lot of the time they are not just cast in a show; they have a taste of everything from working in the shops to running the box office.”

While the learning experience is praised, the importance of the audience always comes back into focus. Those involved in the program agree that the total support of the community is what really made summer theatre work over the years.

“The community has been phenomenal,” said Ryan. “Without it, the tradition of Summer Theatre never would have been established nor would it have endured. The students and faculty could never begin to express all of their gratitude for our audience’s support.”

The audience has played a large off-stage role in the productions since the first season in 1955 through their attending the shows and donating to the Butcher Summer Theatre Fund.

“This summer, we really want to thank our audience, our community, for being so supportive,” said Mai. “And the best way they can celebrate with us is to keep coming to our shows."

 

 

Last Updated July 2, 2007>