Administrative/Biographical History
The Oberlin College Gilbert & Sullivan Players became a recognized group in the Spring of 1949. The organization was conceived by two Oberlin students, Alan Garb (BA 1951) and Ellen Uhrbrock (BA 1951). From the period of 1949 to 1953 presentations of The Pirates of Penzance, Trial by Jury, The Mikado, Iolanthe and HMS Pinafore were done in the Oberlin High School auditorium or in the Apollo Theatre. Once Hall Auditorium was completed G&S presented, on average, two productions per college year from the period of 1953 to 1966. In the summers from 1953 to 1966, the G&S Players held summer stock in Cape Cod at various locales and under differing conditions. Each summer production period averaged six weeks and five to six different productions. The last place of residence for the Cape Cod summer stock was the Highfield Theater in Falmouth, MA.1
1968 was the last season of the Oberlin Gilbert & Sullivan Players at Highfield Theater. It was immediately followed in 1969 by the College Light Opera Company, founded and still run by Robert Haslun. Many Oberlin student participate in this program each summer, but it is no longer particularly a Gilbert and Sullivan troupe, nor is it officially associated with Oberlin College.
After Dr. Boyers’ retirement in 1967, the campus players saw hard times as well. The loss of Dr. Boyers dedicated and influential leadership was not the only problem. The creation of the Theater and Dance Department in 1968 was a factor limiting student theater in general. The increasing number of faculty-sponsored productions gradually edged student theater out of Hall Auditorium. The number of G&S productions declined to one per year in 1968-70. The interests of Oberlin students during the late ‘60s were understandably directed more towards social politics than student theater, and in the spring of 1970, while the attention of all was directed towards Kent State University, two things failed to happen. No executive board was elected for 1970/71, and the traditional December slot in Hall Auditorium was not reserved for the Gilbert and Sullivan Players.
Students who had been involved in recent G&S shows were invited to revive the organization, and what resulted was a “student organization with financial support, supervision and encouragement for the Music and Theater Department of the Conservatory of Music.” This second G&S Players produced G&S operettas sporadically in Hall Auditorium until 1975. After that year, the G&S Players were limited to continuing their collaborations, begun in 1973, with the also weakened Mummer’s Guild, on non-G&S works. These included Anything Goes and Kismet, and were most often produced in Wilder Main Lounge. The last of these collaborations, Candide, did get a Hall slot, but it marked the end of student-run theater in Hall Auditorium. In the fall of 1978, all the student theater groups on campus (including G&S and the Mummers) merged into the Oberlin Student Theater Association (OSTA), which is still operating.
In the fall of 1980, Gayden Wren ‘83, dissatisfied that no G&S operetta had been produced in five years, began work towards the chartering of a new student organization, dedicated particularly to the production of G&S. This naturally caused distress among OSTA leadership, still very aware of their role as a coalition of near-defunct organizations. They maintained that G&S was but one of many OSTA projects, and that after the energetic Wren had graduated no need would be felt for an independent G&S Players. Nonetheless, perhaps owing to strong alumni sympathy (and nostalgia), G&S got its charter, and has produced 25 G&S operettas since then, and 3 commencement shows. Twelve of the thirteen performable G&S operettas have been produced since 1980, as well as a performance of Cox and Box, by Sullivan and Burnand. The current third Gilbert and Sullivan Players differ from the first two in that it is entirely student-run in all areas, including administration. The productions in general have less traditional D’Oyly Carte polish, but more daring innovation. Outrageously different interpretations of the operas, which would not be possible under any other conditions, have been extremely popular with students and experienced alumni alike. Despite a near collapse in 1986, sailing has been relatively smooth for G&S, and since 1988 growth has been steady. A new, more specific charter was adopted in November 1989, and passed by the General Faculty in May 1990. Relations between OSTA and G&S have been steadily improving since 1988, and recently overtures for increased communication with the Theater and Dance Department have been received by both student organizations. Gilbert and Sullivan is definitely alive and well at Oberlin, and looking for opportunities to grow and improve.
(History of G&S from 1966-1990 by David Zajic).2
SOURCES CONSULTED
1The Oberlin College Gilbert and Sullivan Players, 1949 - 1966: Its past with recommendations for the future. Prepared by Hayden Boyers, c. November 1966. Located in RG 19/3/3 case file.
2Continued History of the Oberlin Gilbert and Sullivan Players, 1966-1990. David Zajic, 1989/90 President of the Oberlin Gilbert and Sullivan Players, May 21, 1990. Located in RG 19/3/3 case file.
Author: Carol Jacobs and David M. Zajic Forms of Material (links to similar genres) Administrative InformationThe first lot of records (mostly early financial records and a few programs up to about 1968) was received prior to 1987, along with records of the Oberlin Dramatic Association. The next lot of materials came in January, 1990, courtesy of David Zajic, president of the Gilbert & Sullivan Players, 1989-90, and covered the period from the 1960's to the present. Mr. Zajic assisted with the preliminary arrangement and description of these records. The records, which he deposited on behalf of the student group, included materials of the current Gilbert & Sullivan Players as well as items sent to him by previous members of the Gilbert & Sullivan Players, Ellen Weiss, Muriel Minot, and founding member Ellen Uhrbrock. Programs from the 1950s were received from the Oberlin College Library, Special Collections, in 2001.
Additional materials were received from private donors and College offices between 2002 and 2007.
The major group of related materials may be found in the papers of the former director of the Gilbert & Sullivan Players, Hayden Boyers, 30/56. Included in that collection are twelve scrapbooks of deteriorating news clippings, 1950-1967. All but the earliest scrapbook deal with the Gilbert & Sullivan Players' summer productions on Cape Cod. Other Gilbert & Sullivan materials in the Boyers collection include a folder of scripts and libretti and about 1.2 linear feet of audio-visual materials such as slides, photos, filmstrips and reel tapes.
Another source of records for the Gilbert & Sullivan Players is the files of the Student Union Office. Those files contain such records as officer lists for the past fifteen years, office use agreements, descriptions of the organization and charters (1949, 1975, 1977, 1980, 1990).
A final source of related materials is in "Reunion Weekends," a series in Record Group 20, "Oberlin Alumni Association." The file on the 1986 Gilbert & Sullivan Players' Reunion in 1986 includes a description of the reunion weekend, a program of the revue "Sufficiently Decayed," list of participants, correspondence, text of "Sufficiently Decayed" in handwriting of Smith Brittingham, photos, and participation forms.
