The Department of Speech of Washington State University, established in 1923, has produced numerous plays since 1925 as a function of that department. Maynard Lee Daggy headed the Speech Department from its inception in 1923 until 1946 and directed many of the earlier productions. Departmental theatrical finances, publicity, and publications were the responsibility of the University Theatre office located in Bryan Hall. In the early 1970s a new site for University Theatre productions and the Department of Speech was constructed and subsequently named Daggy Hall. Circa 1988-1989, theatre was moved from Speech and joined with the Department of Music to create the School of Music and Theatre Arts. In 2008, Theatre Arts and Dance were separated from Music, and in May of 2011 the Department of Theatre and Dance closed as a result of budget cuts.
In addition to regular theatre productions, special production units including Children's Theatre, Stage II Productions, Final Stage, The Black Ensemble, Pullman's New Summer Palace, and Stage One have existed. Most of these appear to have been sporadic.
The collection consists primarily of videocassette recording of theatrical productions of the Washington State University Theatre department, plus one promotional video and one audio interview.
The collection is arranged chronologically by year, with productions arranged alphabetically within each year. The three non-videocassette items, two U-Matic tapes and an audio reel-to-reel, can be found at the end of the collection.
This collection is open and available for research use.
Copyright restrictions apply.
[Item Description]
Washington State University Theatre and Dance Media, 1983-2001 (Archives 309)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.
This collection was transferred to the MASC on June 8th, 2011 by Jon Carlson of WSU's just-closed Department of Theatre and Dance. The collection was received as accession UA2011-08.
This collection was processed by University Archivist Mark O'English in September of 2011.
Slides recieved as part of the accession were processed seperately as the Washington State University Theatre Slides, 1950-2001 (PC 146).
State College of Washington Theatre Records, 1925-1965
Washington State University Theatre Records, 1965-1978
Washington State University Theatre Records, 1966-1981
Washington State University Theatre Records, 1979-1986
Washington State University Theatre and Dance Records, 1980-2011
Washington State University Publications: Theatre Posters, 1957-2011
Washington State University Theatre Slides, 1950-2001
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.