UMTG Production History |
TODAYWe are the oldest-surviving RSO at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. We continue to be a volunteer-based and completely student-run organization, filling roughly 75 different positions each semester. We present one play and one musical in both the Fall and the Spring, each proposed and selected by our general body. We also supplement our season with various community events (ie. Coffeehouses, Banquets), group trips, and bi-monthly General Body Meetings.
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THE MERGER (1990)
Due to a loss of University funding, the "UMass Music Theatre Guild" and the "University Players" decide to merge together, officially forming the "UMass Theatre Guild". At this point, the comedy-sect of the "University Players" split off to form (what would become) the "UMass Comedy League" and the remaining UMTG adopts the four-show model we see today.
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1989-90
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Evita
The Mystery of Edwin Drood |
12/7-9 | FAC Concert Hall | dir. Bill Stewich
4/6-8 | Bowker Auditorium |
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1988-89
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West Side Story
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Spring | FAC Concert Hall
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1987-88
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Little Shop of Horrors
Godspell |
Fall | Bowker Auditorium
Spring | Bowker Auditorium |
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1983-84
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Grease
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Spring | SU Ballroom
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1982-83
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West Side Story
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4/29 | Worcester Dining Hall
5/2-3 | Hampden Southwest 5/6 | Orchard Hill Basketball Courts |
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1981-82
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Sugar
Pippin |
dir. Russell Greene |
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1980-81
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On The Town
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Fall
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1979-80
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Just Friends of 1923 (Original Musical)
An Evening with Rogers & Haurt Applause |
Fall | Bowker Aud | written by Peter Niemezura | dir. Peter Tolan
2/28-29 | On Top of Campus Lounge Spring |
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1978-79
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Anything Goes
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Spring
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REBRANDING (1970)
The UMass "Operetta Guild" becomes the "UMass Music Theatre Guild" -- a name change reflecting their move to produce more mainstream musical theater. The "Roister Doisters" also rebrand to the "University Players" around this time.
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1969
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A Man for All Seasons
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2/2 | Bowker Auditorium
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1968
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Barefoot in the Park
Li'l Abner |
2/3 | Bowker Auditorium
4/3 | Bowker Auditorium |
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1967
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Once Upon A Mattress
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11/2 | Bowker Auditorium
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1954
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Ah, Wilderness!
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1953
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The Vagabond King
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1952
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The Student Prince
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1950
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Angel Streets
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1947
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First Lady
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dir. Bob Wroe
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1946
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The Skin of Our Teeth
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dir. William E. Clark
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1945
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Letters to Lucerne
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dir. Irmarie Scheuneman (Mrs. Wallace A. Jones)
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1944
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Love's Labour's Lost
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dir. Daphne Cullinam (Mrs. William Harrington)
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1943
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The Distaff Side
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dir. Shirley Spring (Mrs. Don B. Crandall)
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1942
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The Torch Bearers
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dir. David Burbank
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1941
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Outward Bound
Beyond the Horizon George Washington Slept Here |
dir. Edward Manix
dir. David Burbank dir. Bob Ewing |
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1940
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The General Died in Bed
Heartbreak House |
dir. George Hoxie
dir. Marion Nagelschmidt (Mrs. Robert L. Jones) |
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1939
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Stage Door
Our Town |
dir. George Hoxie
dir. Helen Janis (Mrs. John Ambrose) |
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1938
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Not Without Hope
Ralph Roister Doister |
dir. John Hoar
dir. John Hoar |
EXPANSION (1938)
After the success of an independent production of Trial By Jury in 1936, Professor Doric Alviani, head of the new Music & Fine Arts programs at Mass State, founds the UMass "Operetta Guild" in 1938. This new organization presents Gilbert & Sullivan Operettas through the next decade (until later expanding their repertoire to more mainstream musicals).
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1937
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The Night of January 16
One Act Plays |
dir. Lucille Monroe (Mrs. Charles Thimblin)
dir. Donald Cadigan |
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1936
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Othello
You Never Can Tell |
dir. John McConchie
dir. Lucille Monroe (Mrs. Charles Thimblin) |
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1935
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Death Takes A Holiday
On Corpus Christie Day |
dir. John McConchie
dir. Calvin Hannum |
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1934
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There's Always Juliet
What Every Woman Knows |
dir. Warren Southworth
dir. Shirley McCarthy (Mrs. Richard I. Miller) |
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1933
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Peg O' My Heart
As You Like It |
dir. Shirley McCarthy (Mrs. Richard I. Miller)
dir. Harriette Jackson (Mrs. Donald G. Enoch) |
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1932
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The Swan
Loyalties |
dir. Mildred Twiss (Mrs. Lawrence Briggs)
dir. Vincent Gagliarducci |
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1931
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The Americans Come
Outward Bound |
dir. Mildred Twiss (Mrs. Lawrence Briggs)
dir. Warren Southworth |
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1930
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Dear Brutus
Fannie's First Play |
dir. Pauline Spiewack (Mrs. Theodore Stonehill)
dir. Alan Chadwick |
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1929
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Craig's Wife
Macbeth |
dir. Jane Patterson (Mrs. Robert L. Hintze)
dir. Taylor Mills |
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1928
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The Youngest
Twelfth Night |
dir. Max Goldberg
dir. Max Goldberg |
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1927
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In the Octagon
Captain Applejack |
dir. Robert Fox
dir. Robert Fox |
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1926
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She Stoops to Conquer
The Devil's Discipline |
dir. Leonard Morrisson
dir. Neil Robinson |
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1925
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Wedding Bells
Sidney (Original Play by Advisor, Frank Rand) |
dir. Marguerite Bosworth (Mrs. Karl Wright)
dir. Emil Corwin |
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1924
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Dulcy
Grumpy |
dir. Theodore Grant
dir. Theodore Grant |
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1923
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A Successful Calamity
The Truth About Blayds |
dir. Earle Weatherwax
dir. Eleanor Bateman |
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1922
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Clarence
You Never Can Tell |
dir. Aimee Geiger (Mrs. J. Stanley Bennett)
dir. Earle Weatherwax |
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1921
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The School for Scandal
John Epps |
dir. Robert Martin
dir. Donald G. Davidson |
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1920
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The Witching Hour
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dir. Marion Early (Mrs. Arthur Chandler)
*First RD production to include women* |
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1915
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Her Husband's Wife
Pluto's Daughter |
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1913
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Comedy of Errors
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1911
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The Private Secretary
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ORIGINS (1906-1912)
In 1906, three campus groups (the College Orchestra, Glee Club, and Mandolin Club) join forces to put up a production. The group becomes an official campus organization in January of 1910 with the writing of their first constitution. Initially called the "Massachusetts Agricultural College Dramatic Society", the group adopts the official title "Roister Doisters" in 1912 (named after the first English comedy, Ralph Roister Doister).
