HISTORY
Of Alpha Psi Omega
Theatre At
Augustana
From Augustana's Special Collections
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1905 - The first student-run theatre organization was the Elsinore Dramatic Club was founded. The club started with readings, then progressed to producing short plays before eventually dissolving in 1912-1913.
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1910-1911 - The Department of Elocution and Physical Culture first offered a course in “dramatic expression.”
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Mid-1920s - Augustana’s School of Oral Expression began producing one-act plays in the college chapel
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1925 - The Augustana Dramatics Club was founded.
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1928-1929 - Theatre courses start becoming listed under the School of Oral Expression and the Department of Public Speaking and Debate.
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1932 - The Taming of the Shrew was Augustana’s first Shakespeare production.
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1934-1935 - The School of Oral Expression was dissolved, but the Speech Department continued a course in “Dramatic Art.”
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1984 - Augustana starts offering a theatre major!
AYO's
National History
From Our National Website
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1921 - At Fairmont State College in Fairmont, West Virginia, college theater took root.
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1923 - The Masquers were formed and a faculty director was hired in 1923. The Masquers were charged with presenting a season of 4 to 5 major productions per year for students and the general public.
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1925 - Elinor B. Watson, Robert Sloan, and Fairmont faculty director Paul F. Opp lead drawing up a national constitution, and, on August 12, 1925, the first cast of Alpha Psi Omega members, drawn from the Masquers, was initiated.
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Fun fact: It was then decided that each chapter was to be called a "cast," and Fairmont College became the Alpha Cast.
Alpha Psi Omega
at Augustana
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1928 - An Alpha Omega cast was founded on Augustana’s campus.
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1934 - An Alpha Psi Alumni group was founded.
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1951-1952 - Augustana had nationally the largest chapter of Alpha Psi Omega (with 42 members and 51 neophytes).
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1960 - Augustana has a one-act play festival, a tradition continued today with the Quad City Playwrights festival.
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2004 - The Vagina Monologues was performed for the first time, which became a tradition still performed annually.
A Timeline of
Alpha Psi Omega
