Long Island University at Brooklyn - Sound Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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Prof. Brown as- tounded his colleagues with this chimercial play-whose author has disap- peared into theatrical antiquity-by purposely introducing missed cues, ill- timed entrances and back-firing props in order to teach his students and audi- ences how a troupe of itinerant medieval players would have actually done it. Using the play-within-a-play technique fan innovation for this particular comedyl the players strolled on stage carting the necessary properties, put them in place and went on to act in the tempo of medieval performers. All of the plays were originally devised for use on the regular three-sided raised stage and were adapted to the round by Prof Whose know-how fashioned imaginative, vital theater. Not only does his master craftsmanship show up in the altered scripts but it manifests itself in the unique devises and touches, or business, that mark a script tailored by Brown. One of these Brownian touches is the importation of an experienced actor to play in student productions. The director believes that the timing, movement and stage presence of the professional only can be transmitted to the amateur through observation and by performing together. Marie Donnet, who appeared with loseph Schildkraut and Eva Le Gallienne in Uncle 1-larry, was a feature player in the Family Beunion in Ianuary 1952. Earlier professionals were Gae Caulkins and Barbara Leonard in Dangerous Corner and See Naples and Die, respectively. Opening the 1951 theatrical season at LlU with I. B. Priestly's provocative Dangerous Corner, the Workshop gave eight performances of this exciting psychological melodrama, heightened by many unorthodox twists and turns. See Naples and Die celebrated the second anniversary of the college group, April 1951. Penned by Elmer Bice, this play captured the antics of American turned loose on The Continent in The Roaring Twenties but also hinted of the Fascist political intrigue then sprawning in Europe. A lack of appropriate rehearsal and ,theater space-owing to the shifting of classes during the Fall 1951 season-brought the Workshop Theater to the boards with an experimental recital style performance of T. S. Eliot's The Family Beunionf' By combining reading and acting forms with simple theatri- cal devices, members of this cast were presented with an opportunity to widen the scope of their techniques by learning to do verse-drama and choral speaking. ln an unusual type of dramatic presentation set to music, the actors performed before high wooden-slatted screens with lecterns for their scripts and plain high stools. lt was the first time the audience was seated directly before the players. ln order to stimulate a more concentrated effort on the part of the student- actors and technicians an award of statuettes, called Brownies, were pre- sented for the first time in lune 1951. They went to Maxine Schachter, Dolores Turkel, Eugene Varrone and Marvin Throne for their performances in See Naples and Die. Carrying out his intention to develop a Hplayhouse for unproduced plays, new and untried scripts and revivals of the classics, a twin-bill production of Devil Take lamie, scripted by alumnus Bruce Marcus and Systems of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether, an adaptation of an Edgar Allen Poe satirical classic, was presented. Marcus, who directed both plays, set his opus in an lrish provincial kitchen with a wedding occurring in an adjacent room. lt is a tale of conflicts between an aging father and his young son, lamie, who rebels against the former's way of life. The second play, another Workshop first, takes place in a progressive French insane asylum, revealing what happens to a visitor taken on a guided tour of the institution. Fifteen 'Ve 7 lf the players -tfic guest

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Tl he Actors TT used to be that only the music went 'round and 'round, but that's all changed now. Ever since its first curtain call the University Workshop Theater has been arena-staging all of its productions to go around in circles, This is how it all came about. The desire to build the first permanent theater in the history of the Uni- versity came alive three years ago. Unable to obtain a suitable neighborhood playhouse to showcase proposed theatrical productions while on Pearl Street, Speech-Theater Department Chairman Dennis Brown rolled up his sleeves and went to work with what he had. l-le proved that lack of funds and in- adequate facilities were not too great a handicap by transforming a rec- tangular roorn into an arena theater. Because theater-in-the-round provided a way to begin operations immediately, a room originally intended as an office but utilized as a lounge for women students was turned into an intimate theater featuring productions ranging in genre from a Moliere comedy of manners to a symbolic Eliot vehicle. And how the audience loved itl Seated on all sides of the actors, they ap- plauded the most completely uninhibited methods of delivery known to the theater. Only stamina and ego protect the actor from the audience, seated on an odd collection of second-hand upholstered movie seats and straight wooden chairs. The closeness of the spectators leaves the actor in an ex- tremely vulnerable position but, to date, no vegetable matter has been thrown. The LIU Workshop Theater was the first college group in the metropolitan area, and one of the early few on the east coast, to adopt arena-style staging. So Prof. Brown pushed up his sleeves. Now, replacing the organizational growing pains, there stands a mature, well-molded group of thespians. To parallel the University's expansion program in downtown Brooklyn and on the lavish Oyster Bay estate, plans were formulated for a permanent pro- cenium or conventional theater near the Paramount building. This would afford feasibility to the departmental long-range plan for weekly productions, from October through May, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, a schedule unequaled by any other eastern university. lf this plan becomes a reality, the Workshop will need two alternating acting colonies with separate production staffs. One group would use the circus method and the other, conventional staging. The arena productions would be utilized as a training ground for the less experienced actors, with the senior actors studying stage craft and techniques behind the procenium. There will be a certain number of positions open to student assistants, handling mail and telephone orders, selling tickets and working in the box office, on a fee basis. Some of the first playbills issued at Workshop performances stated the organizations primary objectives, all of which have been fulfilled and en- larged upon through years of spirited activities. The first . . . To serve as a practical training ground to all students in- terested in grease paint and spot lights. The second . . . To establish an active theater project capable of experi- menting with unusual plays of both the classic and contemporary type and also to introduce new and untried scripts.

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the players ln conjunction with his new-theatre-site dream Prof. Brown has ar- ranged for theater arts students to attain membership in two theatrical organ- izations, ANTA or The American National Theater and Academy and the American Educational Theater Association, AETA. Believing that the development of the Workshop would ultimately become an added source of entertainment and culture for residents of Brooklyn, Prof. Brown strongly feels that the community can be entertained and well taught through the medium of a university theater, With the presentation of Molliere's farce The Imaginary lnvalidf' in March l949, the University's first theatrical venture in more than eight years, began a line of highly successful presentations. Among the student-actors who played to the first packed house were lerome Koenig, john Ridge, Eleanor Winston, Herbert Goldsmith and Maxine Bergon. Next to be performed was William Saroyan's Across The Board on To- morrow Morning which is filled with the weird characters the author is noted for creating. Featured in this opus were Conrad Duncan, loel Stark, Don Dellair-Zeitz, Enzio Napoli and Betty Blecher. The production was staged in December of l949. A Ghosts, written by Henrik lbsen, was one of the many of the lbsen plays which have lost their initial effect as denunciatory vehicles, yet have gained a place in the theatre as skillful and provocative dramas. lt opened in May l95U with Eleanor Winston, Albert Landa, Martin Zagan, Lore Alfred- son and Herbert Goldsmith. After each play, members of the audience participate in a discussion of the evenings performance with the cast, staff and director of the play. Coffee is served with the compliments of the Workshop. Prior to his appointment at LlU, Prof. Brown worked as both actor and stage manager with the noted Pasadena Playhouse in California, the King Smith Playhouse in Washington, D.C., the CU Associates and a Warrensburg CN.Y.l stock company. He was also an actor and a radio writer with WOL CMutualD in Washington and WNYC in New York. As an army captain sta- tioned in Manila, he wrote and directed numerous service shows. Applauded widely by a host of professional theatre people, such as Show Business magazine which declared, l'LlU Workshop Theatre is a worthwhile stop on our theatre-going rounds, the group has found accept- ance in all theater circles. Show Business went on to say: Prof Brown knows how to get the best out of his performers. Prof. Brown's Speech-Theater Department started the first Speech correc- tion and language development clinic since the founding of the University in l928. Devoted to serving the college and community, the speech clinic is supervised by Miss Mary Harden. Since its inception in the fall of l95U, the clinic has served more than lUU cases, from four years of age to adults. ln conjunction with its therapeutic work in the clinic, the Speech-Theater Department is conducting a research program in Speech Correction and Language Development. The clinic also will aid the foreign students in their attempt to master the English language. The Society for the Study of Stuttering is a newly formed unit of the clinic. lt intends to establish a fund to enable boys and girls of elementary school age, unable to pay for the costly treatments, to undergo speech therapy. Speech Correction majors, in addition to doing clinical practise in speech correction at LlU, are currently engaged in a speech internship at the jewish Hospital and Sanitarium of Brooklyn, St. Vincent's Hospital and the Hospital for Special Surgery in order to observe and work with modern diagnostic and therapeutic techniques used in aiding the handicapped. -53- ft tl 1 f ,Sv 1. Vi ., A . Aj .- . -Vg. t 14 A i,,, ,E ge f .1L'. -,wx ,. .Hp H.,- ' ' . ,ef ' .-v- -Trz.: .. . ,..i.... .. ...viyf 5 . T.. uf., .. --f A vw, . ,', do , . PM -,., ' .4-vi. '.:..'fL-.. rv-if -A-.. its . .hmm lem I v..rrQlb' DQ y-A. not rn... - . tifgbtea -.,,'. A 'Falk' v , A T' Anil. 5 - .. Lk its SDN , N eq: Sajmdw . -NL 'N 9l1lg3Q'.b T T: Q mek W they QF! Q j UMA T j We WGS 5' Wits, '-Q35 s-.N all , E -.Mgr MQSQ 1.-Q . t.M,k.:.l:.g