Theatre Loyola, 1972-1973

In 1971, Loyola College merged with Mount St. Agnes College which brought women undergraduate students to the Loyola campus for the first time. At the same time, the theatre companies of both schools merged and took the name Theatre Loyola (TL). The new company, as reported in the February 18, 1972 Greyhound, “is a marked change from the kind of dramatics group which existed previously at the two colleges...Prior to the merger Loyola students could pursue dramatic interests in a club on campus or at a neighboring Women’s college.” This more professionalized theatre company was directed by Dale Edward Fern, who had been a faculty member at Mount St. Agnes College. The Greyhound noted Fern’s “serious attitude, passionate direction, busy scheduling, and rigid discipline.” TL’s first production was “Come of Age,” a revival of a 1930s melodrama, which ran from February 18 to March 4, 1972. In the 1972-73 academic year, TL was to present a series of nine “dramatic events” titled “The Many Faces of Eugene O’Neill” that was capped by a production of the monumental “More Stately Mansions” on March 9-24, 1973. However, due to “a series of unexpected events,” some components of this ambitious undertaking had to be canceled or rescheduled (Greyhound, April 6, 1973).

TL went beyond the mere production of plays. As reported in the September 21, 1973 Greyhound, “Every participant in Theatre Loyola is required to take the ‘Theory of Theatre’ course...unless excused by the director.” Moreover, “Theatre in Practice” was offered as a work project during the January Term.

By 1975, TL had become a quasi community theatre, staging its productions in the Undercroft of the Cathedral of the Incarnation. Columnist Joe Hickey (Greyhound, February 27, 1976) lamented Loyola’s “unprecedented support of a theatre void of any excitement or vitality.” In the same issue, Barbara Hilliard celebrated the return of theatre to the Loyola campus through Father James Dockery’s direction of “The Fantasticks” the previous year (with a group that would become the Evergreen Players). Dale Fern, in an interview (Greyhound, February 27, 1976), stated that TL “will remain oriented towards the community as well as the student body” and that “most students at...Loyola are not interested in serious theatre.” In the April 2, 1976 Greyhound, it was announced that Loyola College would be withdrawing financial support from TL; a group called “Friends of Theatre Loyola” would thereafter have to raise the funds for TL’s continuance. Whether TL survived in any form is unclear, but it had no further affiliation with Loyola College; Dale Fern last appears as a faculty member in the 1975-76 catalog.