Summer Theatre

Summer Theatre program
Front cover of the 1964 East Carolina College Summer Theater Program. Image Source: Records of the Department of Theatre and Dance. UA28-01. University Archives, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC.

Much as ECC President Leo W. Jenkins’ (1913-1989) passion for sports informed his efforts to see athletics flourish up College Hill, so did his upbringing in northern New Jersey, in the shadow of New York City and Broadway, shape his support for, first, the founding of a Department of Drama and Speech in 1963, and then Summer Theatre a year later. Accounts of Summer Theatre invariably attribute the idea to Jenkins, and quickly link it to the hiring of Edgar R. Loessin (1928-2011), a drama professional with experience as a Broadway stage manager, and his partnership with John A. Sneden (1936- ), professor of theatre. In Loessin, Jenkins saw a dynamic professional who would build theatre as a department of practice by orchestrating campus performances such as the ECC Playhouse during the academic year, and Summer Theatre in July and August. In its first season, Summer Theatre grandly fulfilled Jenkins’ dreams with a playbill including six Broadway musicals: West Side Story (July 6-11), The Boy Friend (July 13-18), My Fair Lady (July 20-25), Anything Goes (July 27-Aug. 1), and Li’l Abner (Aug. 10-15), reportedly attended by approximately 24,000 in the newly air-conditioned, 760-seat McGinnis Auditorium. Commenting on the inaugural slate, Jenkins quipped that summer was a good season for musicals, and added that professionalism would reign, with all faculty involved devoting their time exclusively to Summer Theatre, and that alone. Auditions for outside professionals were held in New York, Tampa, and Greenville. 

The first performance was held on the evening of July 6, with a campus revisit of Leonard Bernstein’s musical, West Side Story, staged before “an enthusiastic near-capacity crowd.” Both Jenkins and Loessin were on hand to greet the audience. By all accounts, the show was impressive, signaling the start of a grand run for the innovative dramatic project. Season tickets for the first season were $15.00 and came with reserved seats for six musicals plus four concerts in Ficklen Stadium. Local businessmen, including Reynolds May and Wally Howard, helped Jenkins and Loessin in securing season ticket sales. Just two days before opening night, season ticket holders also enjoyed priority, center-stadium seating at the July 4 celebration in Ficklen Stadium featuring “spectacular” fireworks, addresses by local dignitaries, and ECC band performances of patriotic selections.

The West Side Story run received good reviews, though one admitted that ECC’s success with the internationally popular Broadway sensation resulted from its earlier presentation of the same musical in February as part of its Playhouse series, giving it “a ready-to-use set, some ready-to-act performers and some ready-to-play musicians, plus the popular show itself.” Summer Theatre’s lead production, then, was “a repeat of a popular show by popular demand” and “nothing new at ECC….” Yet that in itself was telling. With Jenkins and Loessin growing the college’s theatre program, East Carolina had, by the summer of 1964, already staged encore runs of a Broadway hit which featured, instead of the familiar Romeo and Juliet, a love affair between a Caucasian male, Tony, and a Puerto Rican girl, Maria, plus gang warfare between the Sharks and the Jets, complicating their tragic, inter-ethnic romance. Although it was a Broadway hit, West Side Story was not traditional fare in Greenville prior to Jenkins and Loessin, and would not have been without their determination to provide greater cultural leavening for the campus and region.

Explaining what prompted the bold Summer Theatre initiative, Jenkins explained “Life should be more livable in eastern North Carolina. We have climate, scenery, and so on. But almost any section of the country can say that. A cultural climate is becoming increasingly important, especially in this age of the ‘young professional.’” Jenkins added that “a college exists for two basic reasons: to teach how to make a living and to teach how to live. We feel Summer Theatre will be a valuable contribution to our efforts on the latter.” The initiative fit Loessin’s thinking about how drama should be taught, i.e., with students actively involved in stage performances as opposed to the often “sheltered” theoretical and purely academic side of theatre. Jenkins and Loessin, a native of Texas and UNC undergraduate with a master’s from Yale, were in complete agreement that the Summer Theatre would be integral to the newly founded Department of Drama and Speech that Loessin was to lead as chair.

Following the successful launch of season one, Jenkins and Loessin announced in Sept. of 1964 that there would be, the following summer, another six-week series of musicals. A drive to enlist season ticket subscribers, still priced at $15 each for reserved seats, was launched to help finance the second season featuring Camelot, Oklahoma, Carnival, Kiss Me Kate, Brigadoon, and The Student Prince.

In November of 1964, capitalizing on the success of the premiere season of Summer Theatre and the recent election of Robert W. “Bob” Scott (1929-2009) as lieutenant governor, Jenkins presented Scott with season tickets for the upcoming second season. A News and Observer photographer captured Scott beaming as Jenkins, also broad with smile, handed him the tickets. Cheerfully looking on were State Senator Robert Morgan (1925-2016), also chair of the ECC board of trustees, and Edgar Loessin. The mix of cultured, academic advancement and political maneuvering was classic Jenkins. Earlier, in February of 1964, Gov. Terry Sanford (1917-1998), in Greenville for the last performance of the Playhouse production of West Side Story, had publicly announced – no doubt at Jenkins’ prompting – that ECC would become, in July, the nation’s fifth college to sponsor a professional summer theatre. In private correspondence, Gov. Sanford wished Jenkins “the very best of luck in this most important and worthwhile endeavor.”

Even as Jenkins gave away season tickets, he enhanced the appeal of ECC’s efforts to gain subscribers for the second season. Along with good entertainment, theatre goers might have the chance to rub shoulders with the lieutenant governor or perhaps a state senator or two. Moreover, in addition to serving the academic interests and ambitions of the ECC student body, Jenkins, through his brainchild, Summer Theatre, advanced the narrative that East Carolina was more than a teachers college turned liberal arts college. It was the dynamic and leading force behind the cultural renaissance of eastern North Carolina, and one determined to assume new roles in the world of drama and, more grandly, in other areas of higher education as well.

To ensure the success of the premiere season, Jenkins had coordinated a season-ticket marketing blitz with the help of community leaders in Nash, Edgecombe, Halifax, Martin, Wilson, and Pitt counties. Jenkins praised popular support for the subscription drive as “the essential ingredient that brought the idea to life.” While ticket sales were crucial, Loessin and his 60-player company plus a 15-member orchestra followed through in the opening season with an exhausting day-rehearsal, night performance schedule, performing one play while rehearsing for the next, on a Monday-Saturday schedule, followed by dress-rehearsals on Sunday for new openings on the following Monday evening. As special guests, outstanding graduates from area 16 high schools were provided complimentary tickets.

Ticket sales chairs in eastern N. C. included H. D. White in Rocky Mount, E. N. Warren in Ayden, T. R. Andrews in Bethel, B. S. Smith in Farmville, G. Earl Trevathan in Fountain, Sam Nelson in Grifton, Mrs. Lela Hoell in Grimesland, W. J. Long, Jr., in Roanoke Rapids, Mrs. Dail Holderness in Tarboro, Weldon, J. Paul Simpson in Williamston, Mrs. J. Russell Kirby, George Willard, and Benjamin H. Bardin in Wilson, and Vernon E. White in Winterville. Through their efforts, over 3,500 season tickets were sold. By May 15, over $50,000 had been raised, meeting the initial subscription goal for financing the premier season.

In its ninth season, Summer Theatre added a children’s dimension with matinee puppet performances by Atlanta’s Piccadilly Puppets including “Miss Lilly and the Frogfoot Phantom” and “Frapiplestick?” In June of 1973, as Summer Theatre approached its tenth season revisit of My Fair Lady, the university hosted a gala event with Gov. Jim Holshouser and members of the N. C. General Assembly and UNC Board of Governors attending. The same year, Summer Theatre received two grants, one from the North Carolina Arts Council ($3k) and one from the North Carolina General Assembly ($15k), to advance its mission in providing dramatic performances combining professional and advanced student actors.

However, in 2012, with budget cuts and declining ticket sales, Summer Theatre came to an end. In 2021, as ECU began to emerge from the COVID pandemic, Jayme Host, director of the School of Theatre and Dance since 2016, responded to community demand for a revival of Summer Theatre by launching a fund-raising drive. Host’s efforts coincided with the 60th anniversary season of the East Carolina’s Playhouse, now named in honor of the founding chair of Drama and Speech and founding director of Summer Theatre, Edgar Loessin. As Jenkins once quipped, ticket sales and public support were the crucial factors that first brought Summer Theatre to life. With renewed efforts by Host and others, perhaps Summer Theatre awaits yet another encore.

Sources

  • “1965 Summer Theater Program.” June 28, 1965-August 7, 1965. University Archives # UA28.01.02.05.08. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/22773
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Related Material

Edgar Loessin (left), Scott, Jenkins, and Morgan. Image Source: News & Observer, November 21, 1964. P. I/6.

John Sneden, Leo Jenkins, and Edgar Loessin in McGinnis. Image Source: News & Observer, February 9, 1964. P. III/1.

Citation Information

Title: Summer Theatre, 1964

Author: John A. Tucker, PhD

Date of Publication: 10/5/2021

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