Archive
We wish to honor all of those who have made theatre a vibrant presence on our campus. This page is part of an ongoing project to document theatre productions at Guilford College, going as far back in time as records will permit.
Take a look! Help us identify people! If you have production memorabilia, please send scanned copies to jzerbe@guilford.edu. We’ll include your material in this archive.
View our photo archive.
Earliest available records suggest that the production of theatre on campus started in 1916 long before the existence of formal classroom study. Initially, theatre was an extracurricular student activity sponsored variously by the Literary Club, the Y.W.C.A., the Dramatics Council, and then Revelers.
After long focusing on dramatic literature, the English department added the first academic course focused on theatrical production in 1929. Offerings began to expand in 1956 when Donald Deagon joined the faculty. He and wife Ann established the department of Classics and Drama in 1967-68, splitting them into freestanding programs in 1971, giving birth to the department of Drama and Speech. In 1990, the department revised and deepened its curriculum, began creating its own productions with support through the academic budget, and the current department of Theatre Studies was born.
