{"id":86045,"date":"2020-04-16T14:01:10","date_gmt":"2020-04-16T18:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=86045"},"modified":"2024-01-04T14:48:48","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T19:48:48","slug":"ddn-w-stuart-mcdowell-to-retire-a-talk-with-the-man-who-changed-wright-states-theater-department","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2020\/04\/16\/ddn-w-stuart-mcdowell-to-retire-a-talk-with-the-man-who-changed-wright-states-theater-department\/","title":{"rendered":"Dayton Daily News: W. Stuart McDowell to retire: A talk with the man who changed Wright State\u2019s theater department"},"content":{"rendered":"

Excerpt<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

W. Stuart McDowell, who chaired Wright State University\u2019s Department of Theatre, Dance and Motion Pictures for 22 years and directed 26 productions will retire June 30.<\/p><\/div>\n

Director, educator and playwright W. Stuart McDowell, who chaired Wright State University\u2019s Department of Theatre, Dance and Motion Pictures for 22 years and directed 26 productions from William Shakespeare to Rodgers and Hammerstein, has announced his retirement effective June 30.<\/p>\n

Currently serving as professor and artistic director of the department as well as the Frederick A. White Distinguished Professor of Professional Service, McDowell, 73, arrived at WSU in 1994.<\/p>\n

Before his arrival, he was artistic director for Grove Shakespeare in Southern California and was founding artistic director of the Riverside Shakespeare Company of New York City, which he co-founded with his wife, Gloria Skurski. While helming Riverside Shakespeare for a decade, McDowell, a Brechtian scholar, directed Tom Hanks in his New York stage debut.<\/p>\n

His relationship with Hanks proved helpful during WSU\u2019s \u201cRise Shine Campaign,\u201d a campuswide fundraising endeavor in which Hanks served as national co-chair. More than $160 million was raised for scholarships and construction of state-of-the-art performance and gallery spaces for the school.<\/p>\n

McDowell \u201chas been a tireless champion of so many artists and educators,\u201d said Joe Deer, who succeeded McDowell as department chair. \u201cHe is unafraid of the challenges inherent in big dreams. He lives for his audience and is the soul child of P.T. Barnum, Joseph Papp and Bertolt Brecht. Every Stu production is an event and every event is an opportunity to champion our department.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I\u2019ve worked for the last two years to try and fill his estimable shoes as the new department chair, I know better than most how incredible his daily achievements have been. I will deeply miss his open door and easy counsel, but I\u2019m so happy he can now focus on his next set of big dreams. I will welcome his continued friendship and occasional support at Wright State.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking back on his WSU career, McDowell, whose penchant for spectacle was memorably captured in such productions as \u201cShow Boat,\u201d \u201cLes Mis\u00e9rables,\u201d \u201cSouth Pacific\u201d and \u201cThe Phantom of the Opera,\u201d shared numerous insights.<\/p>\n

Q: What strikes you the most about your early days at Wright State?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0Abe Bassett founded the department and did a lot of wonderful work. When Abe left, Bill Lafferty served as chair. When I came in under the \u201cdeanship\u201d of Perry Moore, I was to shepherd the department into the 21st century. We had elements to fix such as sound problems inside the (Festival Playhouse), and we didn\u2019t have a musical theater program or much scholarship support at that point.<\/p>\n

Q: Since then, how pleased are you about the progress made?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0One of my proudest achievements is increasing scholarships for students about tenfold with so many initiatives, including the named scholarships such as the Martin Sheen, the Tom Hanks, etc. We were also able to offer a musical theater degree which Joe Deer (implemented). We also strengthened our acting component, brought in guest designers, and simply worked to get the quality of the shows up to a level I think the theater students needed as we began to head toward our pivotal Creative Arts Center renovation.<\/p>\n

I really have received a lot of support from the university from the top down because I\u2019ve always felt the arts can lead. For a city of its size, Dayton has a tremendous arts scene. And Wright State has developed a strong arts program which has grown stronger because it has fulfilled a need in this community for training in a pre-professional way. I\u2019m also proud to have been one of the original three chairs to conceive and develop the ArtsGala. The arts give people joy in darkness. It gives people a vision, a language and an articulation. It gives a voice to the challenges we face.<\/p>\n

Q: The Dance and Motion Pictures departments have particularly grown as well. Former film professors Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert won the Oscar this year for their documentary \u201cAmerican Factory.\u201d Alumna Hannah Beachler won an Oscar for \u201cBlack Panther,\u201d which was also an achievement.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0The Dance and Motion Pictures departments are in a period of huge transition right now, but what\u2019s glorious is that those transitional founders, particularly in the Motion Pictures Department, have come back to share their stories, storytelling, technique and glory. And the facilities the Dance Department has are astonishing, as are the dance concerts.<\/p>\n

Q: Which shows are you most proud of producing or directing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0When I came to Wright State, diversifying was important. The department was particularly looking for a stronger African-American constituency. Wright State had never done an African-American play. So in my second season, I hired Sheila Ramsey to direct \u201cA Soldier\u2019s Play,\u201d which was a real triumph. Sheila would also direct \u201cThe Piano Lesson\u201d among others and years later we co-directed \u201cFences,\u201d which was a terrific production.<\/p>\n

My production of \u201cShow Boat\u201d starring Nicole Scherzinger as Julie is also special, as is \u201cThe Secret Garden,\u201d the first show I directed here. Most recently, I really enjoyed directing in the downstairs Herbst Theatre for the first time with \u201cAn Enemy of the People.\u201d In the Herbst, you get to focus on actors, the story, the open-ended parable, which is the core of really great drama. The intimacy, performances and rawness of \u201cAn Enemy of the People\u201d was thrilling and so much fun.<\/p>\n

Q: You were also instrumental in the premieres of \u201c1913: The Great Dayton Flood\u201d and \u201c1903: The Wings of Dreams.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0Dayton has given so many gifts to the world, including flight. I had hoped to make a trilogy called \u201c1923: Accords\u201d which jumped forward to the Dayton Peace Accords and back to the Civil War, weaving themes of community and racism including the film \u201cThe Birth of a Nation.\u201d It still may happen. It\u2019s an exciting idea. Dayton is such a microcosm of this country.<\/p>\n

Q: You\u2019ve given audiences so many memorable images \u2014 including a striking, nearly sensual use of water in \u201cAn Enemy of the People\u201d and a riveting conclusion to \u201cCabaret\u201d in which the set crashed against the backdrop of a huge Nazi flag. What is your perspective on the art of stagecraft?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0For me, the process of directing most often has to do with really connecting to (the story). The essence of really great storytelling is parables, which mean different things to different people. And in order to arrive at such images, such distilled moments, you have to take a play and boil it down or peel it. It\u2019s not going to be an onion \u2014 but more like the core of an apple. You keep peeling away at it until you get to the core, the pit, the seed. And it\u2019s important that seed connects to all the different parts.<\/p>\n

Some of my favorite directors are Peter Brook and Trevor Nunn, who were able to tell stories in big, grand ways which all came from simple little things, a little seed. Sometimes you can\u2019t find it easily, so you just go ahead and do the play. But other times it\u2019s the galvanizing moment where it all comes together. To be honest, basically every single production I\u2019ve directed has come with a terrifying feeling in rehearsals. But once the show is blocked, it\u2019s so much fun.<\/p>\n

Q: What is the biggest lesson you learned?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0When I served as chair, it took me a while to learn that the best self-definition of the position is a servant. The chair is a leader but also a servant. I was here to serve the faculty, to give them the tools they needed. It was a turning point.<\/p>\n

Q: What are your hopes for the future?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u00a0I\u2019m currently writing a book called \u201cIn A Heartbeat,\u201d a history of the early years of the Riverside Shakespeare Company of New York City. I also desire to come back to Wright State as a guest director.<\/p>\n

View the entire original post at daytondailynews.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Excerpt Director, educator and playwright W. Stuart McDowell, who chaired Wright State University\u2019s Department of Theatre, Dance and Motion Pictures for 22 years and directed 26 productions from William Shakespeare to Rodgers and Hammerstein, has announced his retirement effective June … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":86053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[730],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wright-state-in-the-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86045"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145337,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86045\/revisions\/145337"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}