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• 1 2022-05-02T16:48:31-07:00 The First Ten Years 55 plain 2022-06-27T16:09:39-07:00 To say that this exhibit represents the first decade of plays produced by the California State University, Dominguez Hills Theatre Arts Department is not technically true (for one thing it was California State College, Dominguez Hills  at that time– it didn't achieve university status until 1977). Moreover, Volpone, the first production listed in this exhibit, is actually the second production produced by the Theatre Arts Department. The initial production, Laugh-Out, comprising two short comedic plays (Aria da Capo by Edna St. Vincent Millay and The Doctor in Spite of Himself by Moliere). Laugh-Out was produced in the Fall Quarter of 1968. There is little available information about the production other than a mimeographed program in the Gerth Archives & Special Collection. It does have the distinction of being the only theatrical production staged at the Dominguez Hills temporary campus, the Watt Campus. The Watt Campus was built across the street from the site of the permanent campus, and it housed academic activities before and during the time the permanent campus buildings were constructed.
  
  With the construction of these first buildings, the Theatre Arts Department had a home. Volpone became the first play produced on the current site of California State University, Dominguez Hills, opening on February 27, 1969.

  The Program

  Like many of the programs at the newly-formed California State College, Dominguez Hills, the Theatre Arts Department was conceived as an interdisciplinary program. A 1974 Performance Review of the program explains what this meant for its students: The program was originally conceived as one giving strong emphasis to the literature and history of the theatre, with the practical aspects of production and technical skills included as only incidental to the basic academic orientation. It was for this reason that the program could include courses in such fields as philosophy, psychology, and political science, as it did, for example, in 1969-70.
  
  A look at the courses that could be applied toward a Theatre Arts interdepartmental major in the 1969-70 school year bears this out. Students could select five courses from Dramatic Theory and Criticism (ENG 246), History of the Theatre I, II, III (ENG 261, 262, 263), Shakespeare (ENG 267), and Contemporary Theatre (ENG 269). one course from Philosophy or Music, and one course from Political Science or Psychology. There were no acting classes, no directing classes, no class on production or stagecraft. Although the Performance Review notes that by 1974 Theatre Arts was in the process of moving away from that interdepartmental model into one in which Theatre Arts is a standalone department, the early emphases on scholarship and theatre history helps explain the selection of plays for presentation in the school's early years. It is a remarkable list of plays, culled from the full range of theatre history. It is not the safe fare one might expect from a new Theatre Arts Department. It is ambitious and challenging, and the theatre community took notice.
  
  The Dominguez Hills campus was built on land that had housed tenant farms and oil fields. In its first years, as the campus added larger, permanent buildings and landscaping, the Small College complex, which housed the Playbox Theatre, stood starkly alone in the middle of vast, empty fields. It did not look like a destination for anyone not directly involved with the campus. And yet, as the Theatre Arts Department grew, and as productions increased, attendance grew with it. As the 1974 Performance Review notes, in the 1969-70 school year, the Theatre Arts program put on three productions involving roughly 30 students, and they played to a total of 1,543 patrons, most of them Dominguez Hills students and faculty.  By the 1972-73 school year, the program put on six productions, involving roughly 80 Theatre students, playing to a total audience of 4.370, approximately 65% of whom came from outside communities. The plays produced at Dominguez Hills often gave the public its first view of the new school, and they helped the school forge its earliest and strongest bonds with the neighboring communities.

  Top Billing

  From its earliest days, high school theatre students around Los Angeles, and particularly those in the South Bay, were often counseled to consider enrolling at Dominguez Hills. Why? For one thing, it was a small college, and with fewer students in the program everyone had a chance to perform more often, and learn other theatre roles. The plays produced were challenging and gave experience in lots of different genres and styles. More than anything, though, everyone in the area knew that anyone coming to Dominguez Hills would get to learn from two of the most talented professors around.
  
  Dr. Hal Marienthal earned his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Art degrees at Northwestern University, and a Doctorate at the University of Southern California. He joined Dominguez Hills in 1966. In addition to producing and directing plays (and only very occasionally acting in them), Prof. Marienthal was a theatre scholar, taught theatre in Hamburg, Germany on a Fulbright lectureship, and was  a fixture on local public television with his weekly half-hour show The Theatre Beat, which ran on KCET from 1968-1982.
  
  
  
  
  
  Dr. Jack A. Vaughn earned a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Washington, Master of Fine Arts at the University of Hawaii, and his Doctorate at the University of Denver. He came to Dominguez Hills in 1968. While he taught classes, and directed and produced plays, he frequently led by example and joined the cast, appearing in major roles in King Oedipus, The Man Who Came to Dinner, The Misanthrope, The Importance of Being Earnest, and The Threepenny Opera, among others.He also served as guest director for theatre companies around Southern California and in Hawaii. He was also a judge for the American College Theatre Festival.
  
  As  Theatre Arts' reputation quickly grew, it was able to attract major talent from off-campus, most notably famed actor and director James Wheaton of the Ebony Showcase Theatre, who arrived to direct No Place To Be Somebody and other plays during the 1973-1974 season.
   

  About This Exhibit

  This exhibit is for now, and perhaps always, a work in progress. We recovered the photographs and some of the documents from a storage area in the University Theatre, where they had been kept for decades. Some of the materials had been damaged, and there was no accompanying materials that identified performers in the productions.. Working with such incomplete information, we have no doubt made mistakes. We are missing play schedules for several seasons, and have only partial records of some other seasons. We are also working with our Media Department to help us correct the color on some of the photos that suffered damage.
  
  Our great hope is those who performed in the plays or worked on them, or even attended performances, can help us get a more complete record. We would deeply appreciate hearing from anyone who can help us correct our mistakes, identify performers, and fill in the gaps. The photos in this exhibit show remarkable work; everyone involved with the productions deserves to be recognized. If you can help, please contact me at this address.
  
  Lastly, I would like to give special thanks to Hannah Houston, who worked on this exhibit during an internship for her Masters Degree in Library Science. It simply could not have been done without her truly professional work.