Archives West Finding Aid

Keith Maurice Engar was born in Preston, Idaho, to Charles J. and Alveretta Engar on 2 April 1923. His family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, where he attended East High then West High. While in high school, Engar became involved in various activities, including tennis, basketball, theater, and radio. Radio, however, was different in that it was a job. In an oral history present in the collection, Engar noted that "from age sixteen on, I earned my bread in radio." He began as a guide for KSL Radio, stationed in Salt Lake City, and performed on their daily children's show, "Storytelling Time." Later he would become an announcer, producer, and manager for various radio stations, including KDYL, KLO, and KUER. He graduated from West High School in 1940 and went on to college at the University of Utah.

While in college, Engar enlisted in the Army Reserve Corps in 1942 and completed his basic training in 1943. He started out in Field Artillery but transferred to the Air Corps where he was made a flight navigator. He was honorably discharged in July 1946 and, in that same year, married Amy Kathryn Lyman. He received his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Utah in 1947 and 1948 respectively. He then went on to the University of Minnesota where he was an instructor and earned his Ph.D. in philosophy in 1951.

Engar returned to the University of Utah in 1951 as an instructor in the Theater Department as well as a radio and television producer for the university. His involvement in television actually began in 1948 when Channel 4 went on the air. The manager of this station had seen a review of My Sister Ilene, a play directed by Engar, and wondered if he would like to come and work for Channel 4. He did just that and was involved in the first telecast of the first television station between Denver and the Pacific Coast. While helping to establish the University of Utah's radio and television stations, Engar accepted a Fulbright research grant to Paris, France. From 1956 to 1957 he worked with the French broadcasting system on educational television programs. Upon returning to Utah, Engar initiated educational television's use in the schoolroom and helped get KUED Channel 7 on the air in 1958. Three years later, as director of Radio and Television Services, Engar succeeded in getting KUER on the air.

While running both KUED and KUER, Engar accepted the positions of president of the Pasadena Playhouse and director of the University Theater in 1964. However, feeling he had contributed all he could to television and radio, Engar resigned as director of those services and turned his full attention to the theater. He was able to lift the standards of the university's theater by bringing in more professionals to perform in its productions. At the same time, Engar made the theater a "true university theater," directed by the faculty and having students as performers, by devoting the Babcock Theater to student productions. He pioneered the university's summer theater festivals and performed in many of their productions, including Oklahoma, Brigadoon, and South Pacific. Engar was made dean of the College of Fine Arts in 1981 and served in that capacity for three years. In 1984 he relinquished most of his theatrical duties to others but stayed on as executive producer. He retired in 1987.

Engar's involvement in local and national organizations was widespread. He became a member of the Theta Alpha Phi Fraternity in 1942 and was part of the National Collegiate Players Fraternity while attending the University of Minnesota. He served as president of Utah's Radio and Television Council and the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters; and was a member of the American Theater Association during the 1970s and 1980s. Engar was also a member of the Utah Board of Fine Arts, the Board of Directors of Educational Television Stations (a division of the National Association of Educational Broadcasters), as well as the Sons of Utah Pioneers. He received several awards throughout his career, including the Professor Emeritus of Theater Award from the University of Utah in 1988. Keith Engar died in 1994 after a long illness.