GALLERY: STUDENTS AND SHAKESPEARE

Students and Shakespeare: On the Page and on the Stage (400^th Anniversary Exhibit)
William Shakespeare has a four hundred year legacy spanning the globe. Born on the 26^th of April in 1564, he is one of the greatest writers and dramatists in the world, and his poetry and plays are studied regularly in classes of all levels. James Madison University (JMU) is no exception. Since JMU’s establishment in 1908 (founded as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg, or the State Normal School) a strong and lasting relationship with Shakespeare’s works has been cultivated in the classroom, on the stage, and in everyday student life. 2016 marks the 400^th Anniversary of Shakespeare, both of his death and the beginning of his long-lasting legacy. JMU Special Collections celebrates that legacy through this exhibit of JMU student-related materials. (Scroll to the bottom of this gallery for more details.)

See more about this collection here.

This is a photograph of The Winter's Tale program from the 1916 senior class performance

This is a program from the senior class's 1916 performance of The Winter's

This is a photograph of the Course Catalog 1920-1921-ENG 208 Shakespeare and the Drama.

This photograph is a program from the 1966 Festival of Drama. Includes a performance of Merry Wives of Windsor, from the Bridges Scrapbook.

This is a photograph of the Festival of Drama program from 1966, including a performance of Merry Wives of Windsor from the Bridges Scrapbook.

This is a photograph of The Festival of Drama Program from 1966. Includes a performance of Merry Wives of Windsor, from the Bridges Scrapbook.

This is a photograph of Program for All's Well that Ends Well and Stratford Presents Shakespeare's England

This is a photograph of the Program for All's Well that Ends Well and Stratford Presents Shakespeare's England

This is a photograph of the 1979 cover of JMU News

This is a photograph of JMU's 1986 Course Catalog

This is a photograph of MU students, Daryl Harrison, Lisa Mangiafico, and Stephany Bradley on their last night of their London Study Abroad Trip ('86).

This is a photograph of the Shenandoah Shakespeare Express 1991 Season.

This is a photograph of the Shenandoah Shakespeare Express 1991 Season (back cover).

This is a photograph of the Shenandoah Shakespeare Express 1991 Season Program

This is a photograph of the Program for the Shenandoah Shakespeare Express 1993 Season (front cover).

This is a photograph of the Program for the Shenandoah Shakespeare Express 1993 Season (inside).

This is a photograph of the Program for the 1993 Shenandoah Shakespeare Program (inside).

The Stratford Players, the college’s drama club, was established in 1914 with an initial goal to mount one stage theater production a year. This club marks the first, prominent connection of the campus to William Shakespeare. Initially titled the “Stratford Literary Society,” their members came from the two literary societies already established on campus: the Lee and Lanier Literary Societies. The Stratford Players have outlasted all other JMU student-led organizations: they celebrated their one hundred year anniversary in 2014, thus making them the longest continuously running campus organization in JMU history.

Many of the early campus theatrical performances were held in what was called the Open Air Theater. Styled as an amphitheater, the Theater was built into the slope behind Maury Hall (originally Science Hall). In good weather, performances were enacted on a stage at the bottom of the hill, with wooden benches stretched up the hill for best viewing. In poorer weather, they covered the area with a large tent to keep out the elements.

In 1916, the State Normal School celebrated the 300^th Anniversary of Shakespeare with a two-day Pageant. Most of the campus participated in the event—even President Julian Burruss and Professor John Wayland. One part of the celebration included the participants dressing in traditional Shakespearean garb and marching in a parade from campus down Main Street to Court Square in downtown Harrisonburg. (Carrier Library also currently features an exhibit directly downstairs titled “Dressing for Shakespeare and Shenandoah,” which includes a spread on the Open Air Theatre, the Shakespeare Pageant, clothing from that time period, and documents related to performances of Julius Caesar and Taming of the Shrew put on before or around the mid-century mark.)

As early as 1930, the campus hosted traveling theatrical groups performing Shakespeare’s plays. The Ben Greet Players, for example, staged a performance of Twelfth Night for the student body in 1930. Sir Philip Barling Greet—“Ben” for short—was a Shakespearean actor and director. He launched his career in 1883 when he created the Ben Greet Players, a company that toured and put on open-air productions on college campuses throughout England and later America. In fact, Greet’s tours were the first to bring professional actors to college campuses in America, and the Ben Greet Players were able to perform for President Roosevelt on the White House’s front lawn.

Two decades later, the Margaret Webster Shakespeare Company visited and performed Julius Caesar; in fact, two of JMU’s own Stratford Players filled roles in this performance. Margaret Webster was another theater actress, producer, and director. Her company toured from 1948 until 1951, but Webster herself toured with them only until 1950. She left that year to become the first woman to direct at the New York Metropolitan Opera.

In 1966, the Stratford Players hosted a Festival of Drama, which included performances of All’s Well That Ends Well and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Directed by Horace Burr, the Festival was a campus-wide event held from March 23^rd through March 26^th with an encore performance on April 2^nd of that year, and marks another instance of direct interaction among the Stratford Players, students, Shakespeare’s work, and the campus and community in general. Burr and the Stratford Players created this Festival with the intention of its reoccurring every spring as well as including performances from both classical and contemporary drama.

Over the decades, the Stratford Players have imprinted their own legacy onto the JMU community, with many memorable performances. A sample of these, including The Taming of the Shrew (1971), Henry IV (1979), Julius Caesar (2007), Macbeth (2011), and Much Ado About Nothing (2014), are documented within this exhibit. However, Shakespeare’s influence at JMU is not limited just to the stage.

In the last four hundred years, William Shakespeare’s fame has grown exponentially; in just the last one hundred years, his influence has permeated a multiplicity of fields and areas of study in society, especially at the university level. As a prominent literary figure, his works often feature in the classroom. Reviewing JMU’s course catalogs over the past hundred years proves evidentiary. The 1920-21 school year marked the first standalone class focused solely on Shakespeare: his plays and his poetry. As the years progressed, classes on Shakespeare expanded; in Spring Semester 2016 alone, four different JMU classes focus on Shakespeare: his tragedies and romances; his histories and comedies; how to teach Shakespeare in the classroom; and a semester abroad class on Shakespeare’s London connections.

Beginning in the late 1970s, students have had the opportunity to travel abroad to study a variety of cultures, histories, and topics—in many instances, related to Shakespeare. The first set of students in the London study abroad program spent the fall semester of 1979 experiencing England’s capital. Featured in this exhibit are Lisa Mangiafico’s (’87) travels to London in spring of 1986. She spent a semester attending plays and musical performances, exploring the London landscape, and journaling about her travels. Two of her travel journals from her semester abroad, detailing her day-to-day experiences with Shakespeare and the curricula as a whole are included here.

Shakespeare’s influence continued to spread at JMU during the last two decades of the 20^th century. In 1988, JMU English professor Dr. Ralph Cohen and former student Jim Warren (‘88) established The Shenandoah Shakespeare Express (SSE). The SSE was a traveling ensemble troupe staffed with actors from JMU’s student body as well as their alumni. Their first performance was Richard III, and in 1990, the company added performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Julius Caesar to their repertoire. The Shenandoah Shakespeare Express’s popularity boomed and their activities grew exponentially over the first five years, beginning with a single touring show in 1988. By 1992, they were on a three-show tour which even stopped in the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.—as well as moving abroad to England and Ireland. In 1999, the company changed its name to Shenandoah Shakespeare and relocated to Staunton, VA. Finally, its name changed again in 2005 to the American Shakespeare Center (ASC), a change that reflected the company’s focus on performance and research. The ASC is currently based out of Blackfriars’ Playhouse in Staunton, VA and celebrated its 25^th anniversary in 2013.

Within the past decade at JMU, a Medieval Renaissance Studies minor has formed, focusing on Elizabethan studies and works contemporary with Shakespeare. Included within this minor are classes such as ENG 317: Shakespeare’s Comedies and Histories, taught by professors Dr. Marina Favila and Dr. Mark Rankin. Both have extensive academic history with Shakespeare’s work.

Over the past four hundred years, William Shakespeare’s legacy has extended to reach nearly every corner of the globe. In 2016, his influence and talent will be celebrated the world over. JMU, as it did in 1916, celebrates Shakespeare’s influence on the stage, and academically on the page in the classroom.