Dramatic Arts Seeks to Bring Back
From the April-May 2008 issue of UConn e-Momentum.
Many long-time residents of the UConn community fondly remember the Nutmeg Summer Playhouse. Founded in 1949, summer theater productions in this series were extremely popular, playing to sell-out crowds from Storrs and neighboring towns year after year.
In 2003 major budget reductions at the state level forced the closing of the Nutmeg Summer Series, but a new interest in bringing summer theater back to Storrs is gaining traction. The planned development of the Storrs commercial district is adding enthusiasm to the concept. Cultural offerings will help support a local retail sector during the quiet summer months and provide enriching experiences for UConn Dramatic Arts students and the community as a whole.
“Summer theater was a beloved institution in Storrs for decades,” says Dean David Woods, of the School of Fine Arts. “One of our priorities is to launch a comeback of the summer festival known as the Nutmeg Summer Series, to meet the community’s demand for theatrical enrichment and acting students’ need for performance opportunities during the summer.”
The mission of the Summer Series and Festival will reflect that of the Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT). Widely recognized for its outstanding programs, CRT is the primary training mechanism for the Department of Dramatic Arts. The Summer Series will provide high-quality theater offerings, in repertory, using the combined talents of professional actors and UConn drama students.
Emeritus professor Nafe Katter, who was involved with the summer theater program for most of its forty-odd-year run, sees summer repertory at UConn as a valuable tool in training students for a career in theater. “Students profit enormously from working with professional actors,” says Katter. “Not only do they establish contacts in the professional world, but their individual techniques are lifted to the standards of working actors.”
Gary English, who heads the Department of Dramatic Arts, says that in the five years since the festival was closed, many have forgotten how lively Storrs was in the summer when the Nutmeg Summer Series was at its peak. “We had 15,000, sometimes 20,000 people coming to our shows every summer,” says English. If enough funding can be secured by early fall, English hopes to launch an even more ambitious schedule. “We would really like to create more of a destination program, where people can see as many as three plays in a week.”
The Nutmeg Summer Series will offer musicals, plays and small concerts over a six- to eight-week period in June and July. The plan for the first summer, in 2009, will include two musicals to be performed at the Jorgensen Theatre and two Shakespeare plays in the Nafe Katter Theatre.
The revival of the summer festival will be underwritten in part by the University and with income from ticket sales, but private support is also needed to bring back the caliber of productions enjoyed in the past.
For more information about supporting the Nutmeg Summer Series, contact Paul Goldberg, major gifts officer for the School of Fine Arts, at 860.486.0394 .
