Sacre Lane Summer Theatre was developed and directed by Dr. Donald (Don) Weiss, a humanities professor at Oregon College of Education (now Western Oregon University). Weiss began a children’s theater project that taught youths the basics of drama and staged regular performances at his home. Weiss and his wife Elizabeth made costumes, composed music, and printed playbills. After a few years, the performances moved to Monouth’s Main Street Park. The theatre project went by the names Sacre Lane Theater, Sacre Lane Players, and Commedia Del Arte and ended in 1979.
The Monmouth Independence Community Arts Association (MICAA) was founded in 1974 by a group of citizens who wished to promote the arts in the two communities. One of its main activities was to host the summer children’s theater program in conjunction with Sacre Lane and later on its own. In 1976 MICAA began the annual Fourth of July Arts Festival in Monmouth Main Street Park, which remains of the most popular events of the year. MICAA disbanded as an organization in 2013, at which time its papers were donated.
Scripts, programs, schedules, photographs, and newspaper clippings related to two children’s summer theater programs in the Willamette Valley: Sacre Lane Summer Theatre program and Monmouth Independence Community Arts Association (MICAA). Most productions were directed by Dr. Donald Weiss in Monmouth, Oregon.
The collection is arranged by format at the folder level. The collection is arranged in three series: Programs and Schedules; Scripts; and Photographs.
Collection is available for research.
For further information, see the Western Oregon University Archives Research Rules.
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Don Weiss Collection, MSS 21, Western Oregon University Archives
Collection processed according to DACS standards in 2014.
The collection was donated in 2013. Accession number: ACC.MSS.2013.002.
No further accruals expected.
Collection related to MSS 29, Monmouth Independence Community Arts Association Collection, Western Oregon University Archives.
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.
Programs and schedules from productions by Sacre Lane Summer Theatre and MICAA.
List of plays performed by Sacre Lane Summer Theatre and MICAA and seven scripts used for MICAA performances.
Scripts contain handwritten production notes made presumably by Weiss as director.
Photographic prints are in color and black and white; most photographs are undated and without captions.