Washington State University Theatre Slides, 1950-2001

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. With the exception of Summer Palace, most of these appear to have been sporadic, and were occasionally short lived.

Many terms historically used to describe individuals and communities with disabilities are offensive and were used to dismiss, discount and dehumanize these individuals and communities. Terms often focused on a perceived impairment and not the person. MASC recognizes the harm caused by these terms. We retain the language in this finding aid to document history and preserve context.