UA 091 - Huron Playhouse Records, 1946-2018
MLA Citation
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Title | UA 091 - Huron Playhouse Records, 1946-2018 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Introduction | Records of the summer-stock theatre company Huron Playhouse, based in Huron, Ohio, from its inception to its closing in 2016. Duplication of materials in this collection is permitted for the purposes of preservation and research. No restrictions exist on the use of this collection. As described in the Visiting Researcher Application Form, researchers using this collection assume full responsibility for conforming to the laws of libel, privacy, and copyright. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Agency History | The Huron Playhouse has been connected with Bowling Green State University since its inception, however, in 1951 the BGSU Speech Department officially began operating the playhouse. The early seasons allowed students enrolled at BGSU to participate in the playhouse and receive university credit for acting, stagecraft and lighting, and dramatic production. The first show put on by the Huron Playhouse in 1949 was John Loves Mary. While the show was attended by BGSU President Frank Prout, the rest of the audience was made up of only ten paying admissions. However, the remainder of the 1949 season was well attended and began the 67 year run treating Northwest Ohio to Broadway-style musicals and plays, everthing from dramas, mysteries, melodramas, Shakespeare, children's theatre, and musicals. The Huron Playhouse used the McCormick middle school as part Broadway theatre, part scenery shop, part costume shop, and part dormitory to house students. Every year, the playhouse produced up to seven shows one per week, from musicals, mysteries, and even original plays. The student participants were mostly BGSU students but the playhouse attracted young thespians from across the country. The students received housing and a stipend for their work, and the communal housing created a family atmosphere that alumni have never forgotten. Because of BGSU’s active theater department on campus, in 2011, the university ended its financial support of the Huron Playhouse. The Playhouse began operating as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, but despite its beloved status in the community the institution struggled to maintain attendance and held its last season in 2016. The Huron Playhouse attracted many devoted BGSU faculty from both the main campus and the nearby Firelands campus. Dr. Elden Smith of the speech department initiated university support and served as the playhouse managing director from 1951 to 1955. Dr. F. Lee Miesle also championed the playhouse and ran the institution for almost a decade from 1957 to 1966. And last but not least is Dr. Jann Glann and her husband Dr. Frank Glann’s dedication to the Huron Playhouse. Both professors at Firelands, the Glanns were actively involved for the majority of the playhouse’s history: Frank joined in 1955 and Jann in 1963. The Huron Playhouse entertained for 67 summers starting in 1949 and coming to end with the final season in 2016 (except for one final farewell performance in July 2018, the 2017 and 2018 seasons were canceled due to financial constraints). A list of all productions performed over the years by the Huron Playhouse is available in Box 61. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Scope and Content | Thos collection covers the entire run of the theatre and is made up of financial records, print photographs and negatives (both actor publicity shots and of productions themselves), videotapes, newsletters, show programs, scrapbooks, correspondence (including reports from the BGSU advisors), guest books and newspaper clippings. These materials, mostly organized by season or individual production, offer extensive insight into the operations of a summer stock theatre. For example, financial records detail attendance figures, revenue sources, and the myriad of expenses the theatre paid. The guest books – which indicate the hometowns of visitors – help demonstrate how geographically far-reaching the theatre’s appeal was. Of particular interest for studying the history of the Huron Playhouse are the materials gathered to mark its 50th anniversary. An alumni survey was created and generated hundreds of letters with reminiscences by former theatre participants, some of whom went on to perform professionally. Because the Huron Playhouse materials were acquired in several separate transfers over the years, there is a good deal of overlap between various portions of the collection, particularly the production files and the materials organized into scrapbooks. Collection size: approximately 30 cubic feet (61 letter size archive boxes, 1 legal size archive box, 7 record cartons, and 5 oversized/flat boxes) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Inventory | See the attached .pdf for a more complete box and folder listing. 1: Production file 1950 2: Production file 1951 3: Production file 1952 4: Production file 1953 5: Production file 1955 6: Production file 1956 7: Production file 1957 8: Production file 1958 9: Production file 1959 10: Production file 1960 11: Production file 1961
Box 2: 1: Production file 1962 2: Production file 1963 3: Production file 1964 4: Production file 1965 5: Production file 1966 6: Production file 1967 7: Production file 1968 Box 3: 1: Production file 1969 2: Production file 1970 3: Production file 1971 4: Production file 1972 5: Production file 1973 6: Production file 1974 7: Production file 1975
Box 4: 1: Production file 1976 2: Production file 1977 3: Production file 1978 4: Production file 1979 5: Production file 1980 6: Production file 1981 7: Memo describing connections between BGSU and Huron Playhouse 1973 8: Season report 1949 9: Season report 1950 10: Season report 1951 11: Season report 1952 12: Season report 1953 13: Season report 1954 14: Season report 1955 15: Season report 1956 16: Season report 1957 17: Season report 1958 18: Season report 1959 19: Season report 1960 20: Season report 1961 21: Season report 1965 22: Season report 1966 23: Season report 1967 24: Season report 1968 25: Season report 1969 26: Season report 1970 27: Season report 1971 28: Season report 1972 29: Season report 1973 30: Season report 1974 31: Season report 1975 32: Season report 1976 33: Season report 1977 34: Season report 1978 35. Assorted Programs 1959, 1982-1987 (sc.), 2002
Boxes 5 and 6: Negatives, for productions and some cast members, arranged by date
Box 7
Box 8
Box 9
Box 10
Box 11
Box 12
Box 13
Box 14
Box 15
Box 16
Box 17
Box 17
Box 18
Box 19
Box 20
Box 21
Box 22
Box 23
Box 24
Box 25
Box 26
Box 27
Box 28
Box 29
Box 30
Box 31
Box 32
Box 33
Box 34
Box 35
Box 36
Box 37
Box 38
Box 39
Box 40
Box 41
Box 42
Box 43
Box 44
Box 45
Box 46 – legal size box
Box 47
Box 48
Box 49
Box 50
Box 51
Box 52
Box 53
Box 54
Box 55
Box 56
Box 57
Box 58
Box 59
Box 60
Box 61
Box 62
Oversize Box 1 Production Slides, 2000 Production Slides, 2001
Oversize Box 2 Production Slides, 2004 Production Slides, 2005
Oversize Box 3 Production and Season Posters
Oversize Box 4 – Cubic Foot Box
- Beta Tapes are raw footage, VHS copies of original for editing/working purposes - 1998 VHS tapes of Alumni interviews by Tom Koba & Co. - Alum Interviews - Brigadoon - Alum Banquet - ‘B’ Roll – photos and videos - Hand written editors notes/full inventory
Oversize Box 5 – Cubic Foot Box
Oversize Box 6 – Cubic Foot Box
Oversize Box 6 – Cubic Foot Box
Oversize Box 7 – Cubic Foot Box
Oversize Box 8
Oversize Box 9
Oversize Box 10
Oversize Box 11
Oversize Box 12
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