Alcalá 1956

TheAl calaPark Players

vice preside nt; Arlene Raymond, secretary. It was the ir immedia te privilege to launch, under the guidance of Mothe r Furay, a fall produc tion to climax Marian Year activities. Th e dramatizatio n of Franz Werfel's "Song of Bernadet te" was chosen, withPaula Sabin play ing the title role. And this year's Christ­ mas pageantwas called "A Mary Christmas in honor of the closing of the Marian Year. By spring studen ts were hungry for more thea tre . Consequently, anothe r drama —"Let­ ters to Lucerne"was produced in April with major roles played by Arline Raymond, Bev­ erly O'Connor , Tanya Finlayson, Barbara Vidal, Doro thy Wawrzvnski , Diane Sinclair, and Kathleen Wells tein. Sep tember'55 saw Evelyn Krail re-elected president of the club with Suzanne Tilleyas vice president andTrudy Crampton as secre­ tary . "American Chris tmas" was the theme of the fourth annual Chris tmas pageant. And, not to be outdone by Shakespearerevivals in London and on Broadway, the Players chose "Midsummer Night's Dream" as the spring produc tion for 1956. Mr. R. B. Van Vleck, Professor of Spee ch at the San Diego College for Men, was invited to direct the play. The immortal roles of Bottom and Puck were played by Sandra Jelinekand Patricia Crowe, while Titaniaand Oberon were impersonated by Margo Lester and Sharon Smith.

The show must go on! Three weeks aft er the theat re was completed inNovember 1952, a drama clubwas organized;und er the lead ­ ership of Mary Turne r, and the first annual Chris tmasPa ge an t pr od uc ed by Mother Furay unde r the title of "Pagea nt of the Nations." In Sept ember 1953 this club with Mother Campbell as moderator drew up a cons titu­ tion which states that the purpose of the organization is to afford students an oppor­ tuni ty to: put the theory of d rama i ntopractic e develop a love of goo d theatre enrich the knowledge of history and lite r­ atu re learnedin academ ic courses. December of '53 brought the second annua l Chri stmas pageant entitl ed "Christmas in Merry Old Engl and, and in the spring the drama club was bap tized "The Alcala Park Players" on the occasion of its first major pro­ duction — Maxwell Anderson 's"Mary of Scot­ land, directed by Lucille Downs Devereaux. Star ring in this production were Marilynn Mayer and Diane Sinclai r, who were double cast in the role of Mary Stuart ; Kathl een Brophy and Paula Sabin, inthe role of Que en Elizabe th. Rebecca Radford was a Bothwell equ al to both Mary's. I n t h e fa l l of 1 9o4 Ev e l yn Kr a il wa s elected president of the club; Marie Mathew,