UMASS THEATRE GUILD
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      • 2010 - 2015 >
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        • Edwin Drood
        • On The Razzle
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      • 1990 - 2000
      • 1980 - 1989
      • 1960 - 1979
      • 1950 - 1959
      • 1930 - 1949
      • 1920 - 1929
      • 1906 - 1919
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UMTG Production History

TODAY

​We 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.
Picture

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.
1989-90
Evita
​The Mystery of Edwin Drood
12/7-9 | FAC Concert Hall | dir. Bill Stewich
4/6-8 | Bowker Auditorium​
1988-89
West Side Story
Spring | FAC Concert Hall
1987-88
Little Shop of Horrors
Godspell

Fall | Bowker Auditorium
Spring | Bowker Auditorium

1983-84
Grease
Spring | SU Ballroom
1982-83
West Side Story
4/29 | Worcester Dining Hall
5/2-3 | Hampden Southwest
5/6 | Orchard Hill Basketball Courts

1981-82
Sugar
​Pippin


dir. Russell Greene
1980-81
On The Town
Fall 
PHOTO GALLERY

1979-80
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
1978-79
Anything Goes
Spring
PHOTO GALLERY

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.
1969
A Man for All Seasons
2/2 | Bowker Auditorium
1968
Barefoot in the Park
​Li'l Abner
2/3 | Bowker Auditorium
4/3 | Bowker Auditorium
1967
Once Upon A Mattress
11/2 | Bowker Auditorium
PHOTO GALLERY

1954
Ah, Wilderness!
1953
The Vagabond King
1952
The Student Prince
1950
Angel Streets
PHOTO GALLERY

1947
First Lady
dir. ​Bob Wroe
1946
The Skin of Our Teeth
dir. ​William E. Clark
1945
Letters to Lucerne
dir. Irmarie Scheuneman (Mrs. Wallace A. Jones)
1944
Love's Labour's Lost
dir. Daphne Cullinam (Mrs. William Harrington)
1943
The Distaff Side
dir. Shirley Spring (Mrs. Don B. Crandall)
1942
The Torch Bearers
dir. David Burbank
1941
Outward Bound
Beyond the Horizon
George Washington Slept Here

dir. Edward Manix
dir. David Burbank
dir. ​Bob Ewing

1940
The General Died in Bed
​Heartbreak House

dir. George Hoxie
dir. Marion Nagelschmidt (Mrs. Robert L. Jones)
PHOTO GALLERY

1939
Stage Door
Our Town
dir. George Hoxie
dir. Helen Janis (Mrs. John Ambrose)
1938
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).
1937
The Night of January 16
One Act Plays
dir. Lucille Monroe (Mrs. Charles Thimblin)
dir. ​Donald Cadigan

1936
Othello
You Never Can Tell
dir. John McConchie
dir. Lucille Monroe (Mrs. Charles Thimblin)
1935
Death Takes A Holiday
​On Corpus Christie Day

dir. John McConchie
dir. Calvin Hannum
1934
There's Always Juliet
​What Every Woman Knows

dir. Warren Southworth
dir. Shirley McCarthy (Mrs. Richard I. Miller)
1933
Peg O' My Heart
As You Like It
dir. Shirley McCarthy (Mrs. Richard I. Miller)
dir. Harriette Jackson (Mrs. Donald G. Enoch)
1932
The Swan
Loyalties
dir. Mildred Twiss (Mrs. Lawrence Briggs)
dir. Vincent Gagliarducci
1931
The Americans Come
Outward Bound
dir. Mildred Twiss (Mrs. Lawrence Briggs)
dir. Warren Southworth
1930
Dear Brutus
Fannie's First Play

dir. Pauline Spiewack (Mrs. Theodore Stonehill)
dir. Alan Chadwick
PHOTO GALLERY

1929
Craig's Wife
Macbeth
dir. Jane Patterson (Mrs. Robert L. Hintze)
dir. Taylor Mills
1928
The Youngest
​Twelfth Night
dir. Max Goldberg
dir. Max Goldberg
1927
In the Octagon
Captain Applejack
dir. Robert Fox
dir. Robert Fox
1926
She Stoops to Conquer
The Devil's Discipline
dir. Leonard Morrisson
​dir. Neil Robinson
1925
Wedding Bells
​Sidney
 
(Original Play by Advisor, Frank Rand)
dir. Marguerite Bosworth (Mrs. Karl Wright)
​dir. Emil Corwin
1924
Dulcy
Grumpy
dir. Theodore Grant
dir. Theodore Grant
1923
A Successful Calamity
​The Truth About Blayds

dir. Earle Weatherwax
dir.
 Eleanor Bateman
1922
Clarence
​You Never Can Tell

dir. Aimee Geiger (Mrs. J. Stanley Bennett)
dir. Earle Weatherwax
1921
The School for Scandal
​John Epps

dir. Robert Martin
dir. Donald G. Davidson

1920
The Witching Hour
dir. Marion Early (Mrs. Arthur Chandler)
*First RD production to include women*
PHOTO GALLERY

1915
Her Husband's Wife
​Pluto's Daughter

1913
Comedy of Errors
1911
The Private Secretary
PHOTO GALLERY

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).
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Compiled by Cassandra Clark
UMTG Chairperson 2018-19
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  • Spring 2022 Season
    • Urinetown
    • The Moors
    • UMTG Coffeehouse
    • Other Events
  • About Us
    • Our History
    • Documents
    • FAQs
  • Get Involved
    • Meetings
    • Auditions
    • Applications >
      • Executive Board
      • Rehearsal Team
      • Artistic Team
      • Marketing Team
  • Archive
    • Production History
    • Galleries >
      • 2015 - 2020 >
        • If/Then
        • The Haunting of Hill House
        • Secret in the Wings
        • The Addams Family
        • Arcadia
        • Lucky Stiff
        • The Shadow Box
        • Heathers
        • Spelling Bee
        • Peter and the Starcatcher
        • Chicago
        • Proof
        • Starmites
        • Frankenstein
        • Legally Blonde
      • 2010 - 2015 >
        • Importance of Being Earnest
        • Spring Awakening
        • Farragut North
        • A Little Night Music
        • House of Blue Leaves
        • Almost, Maine
        • Children of Eden
        • Death of a Salesman
        • Cabaret
        • Company
      • 2000 - 2010 >
        • Rent
        • Sweeney Todd
        • Bare
        • Hurlyburly
        • Best Little Whorehouse
        • Edwin Drood
        • On The Razzle
        • Wit
      • 1990 - 2000
      • 1980 - 1989
      • 1960 - 1979
      • 1950 - 1959
      • 1930 - 1949
      • 1920 - 1929
      • 1906 - 1919
    • Old UMTG Websites >
      • Tumblr (2014-2018)
      • Blogspot (2009-2014)
  • Connect
  • New Page