Harrington Theatre Arts Company - Memories

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1974 - 1975 - Misc. Pictures

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50s Dance - Fundraiser.jpg

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1974 - Bedtime Story

These pictures are from the first play ever presented by the HTAC in the spring of 1974
Bedtime Story is a one-act "immorality farce" written by Irish playwright Sean O'Casey in 1951.
Setting: A Dublin bachelor flat/lodging house.

Cast Size: 4 men, 3 women.

Main Characters:
     - John Jo Mulligan: A naive, hyper-respectable young man suffering from severe religious and social guilt.
     - Angela Nightingale: A vivacious, fun-loving woman who turns the tables on him.
     - Miss Mossie: The prim landlady.
     - Daniel Halibut: Mulligan's fellow lodger/man-about-town.
Plot: After a night of light-hearted transgression, Mulligan panics over moral and social hypocrisy. Angela outmaneuvers, swindles, and robs him of his cash, wallet, and umbrella. His frantic behavior leads Miss Mossie and Halibut to think he has lost his mind and try to have him committed, leaving Mulligan in a dead faint.

Note: These pictures were taken in the days when you had no clue how a picture was going to turn out until you developed it. Soooo...
Residence Life liked how well the play went that they asks HTAC to present it again during Orientation in the fall of 1974.
Also Note: Sean O'Casey came to campus and during his visit met with HTAC members to discuss the play.

1974 - First Ever Casting Call.jpg

Angela & JJ Mulligan - 2.jpg

Angela & JJ Mulligan.jpg

Bedtime Story (Ditto) 1.jpg

Bedtime Story (Ditto) 2.jpg

Bedtime Story - Flyer.jpg

Bedtime Story - Newspaper Add.jpg

Bedtime Story Program 1.jpg

Bedtime Story Program 2.jpg

Bedtime Story Program 3.jpg

Dave Brown, Margaret Conte, Patti Phillips & Bill Berryhill.jpg

Doctor Nurse and Police Officer.jpg

Haibut - after the rain.jpg

Halibut & JJ Mulligan.jpg

Ms Mosey (who slept with a banana in her ear).jpg

UD Review article.jpg

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1975 - Childrens Programming

Auditions - Childrens Theater.jpg

Childrens Programming.jpg

Punch And Judy - Ad.jpg

Punch and Judy - Announcement.jpg

The_Morning_News_1977_01_20_Page_27.jpg

UD Review article.jpg

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1975 - Doing a Good One for the Red Man

Doing A Good One for the Red Man - 1.jpg

Doing A Good One for the Red Man - 2.jpg

Doing A Good One for the Red Man - 3.jpg

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1975 - Marriage Proposal and Romancers

A Marriage Proposal, also known as The Proposal, is a one-act satirical farce written by Anton Chekhov between 1888 and 1889.
Plot Summary
The Visit: Nervous 35-year-old landowner Ivan Lomov visits his neighbor, Stepan Chubukov, dressed in formal evening clothes to ask for the hand of Chubukov's 25-year-old daughter, Natalya, in marriage.
The First Fight: Overjoyed Chubukov brings Natalya in, but a petty argument quickly erupts over who owns a disputed piece of land called Oxen Meadows. Lomov becomes physically agitated with heart palpitations and leaves in a rage.
The Reversal: Chubukov lets slip that Lomov was actually there to propose. Natalya immediately forgets the land dispute, goes into hysterics, and begs her father to drag Lomov back.
The Climax and Ending: Lomov returns, but the two immediately start a second fierce argument over the superiority of their hunting dogs (Guess and Squeezer). Lomov collapses from stress, and upon reviving, a frantic Chubukov forces the couple's hands together into an engagement kiss while they continue to bicker

The Romancers (Les Romanesques, 1894) is a three-act romantic comedy play by French poet and dramatist Edmond Rostand (best known for Cyrano de Bergerac).
Overview & Plot
Setting: A whimsical, poetic garden split by an ivy-covered wall.
Premise: Young neighbors Sylvette and Percinet (or Silvia and Lelio in some adaptations) fall deeply in love. They quote romantic verse and view themselves as star-crossed lovers like Romeo and Juliet.
The Twist: Their fathers (Bergamin and Pasquinot) actually want them to marry, but pretend to be bitter enemies. The fathers know young people rebel, so they use reverse psychology.
The Scheme: The fathers hire a flamboyant swashbuckler/actor named Straforel to stage a fake abduction/rescue so Percinet can "save" Sylvette and win parental approval.
Resolution: The truth comes out, leading to temporary disillusionment when the artificial poetry of the feud vanishes, and the couple learns to value genuine, unscripted love.
Funniest Moment in the play:(Bill Berryhill)
We used real swords for the sword play. (DO NOT DO THIS - lesson learned). We were performing in the Harrington Lounge and when the swords came out... lets say the people in the first row were seen to actually duck (we were not up on a stage). When I came out the first time in the play I noticed a young boy sitting in the first row. I thought to myself, "He's going to be shocked in the later scene." But when I came out the second time for scene with the actual sword fight, he was not there. Well, the the fight ends up with the one character facing away from me slashing away blindly with the sword and his eyes closed. In order to make him look like the hero I have to get him turned around and slap his sword against my side so I can say my line ("The wound! It's mortal!") and have my dramatic fake death. Soooo... I decided to take advantage of the now empty seat in the front row and as I staggered in death I thrust my sword into the seat. The people on either side of that seat dodged to the side which was amusing. But then a young voice from the side of the room shouted...

"THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN ME!!!!"

The house erupted in laughter (including everyone on stage)... I cherish that memory.

Casting Results.jpg

Marriage Proposal - Romancers - 1.jpg

Marriage Proposal - Romancers - 2.jpg

Marriage Proposal - Romancers - 3.jpg

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1975 - Take Me To the Treasure - Wilmington Hospital

The old Wilmington General hospital buildings closed and were demolished around 1985 when services consolidated into the broader system/Christiana framework

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1975 -Take Me To The Treasure - A.I. DuPont Institute

Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware is a major pediatric medical center in Wilmington, Delaware. It was historically known as the Alfred I. duPont Institute or duPont Institute.
Many of the patients could not leave their beds... so the beds came to us. They wheeled them into a large gymnasium they had and we did theater in the round.
Children's plays (and plays held in residence hall lounges) always had adaptable sets that could fit in any kind of setting/environment.

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1976 - The Public Eye

The Public Eye is a one-act comedic play by British playwright Peter Shaffer, written as a companion piece to [The Private Ear].

Overview & Details
Setting: An office in London
Plot
The Setup: Charles, a rigid and uptight middle-aged accountant, suspects his young wife Belinda of infidelity.
The Investigator: Charles hires Julian, an eccentric, philosophical private detective, to follow Belinda around London.
The Twist: Belinda actually falls for Julian's quirky charm. Instead of breaking things apart, Julian mends the dynamic by turning the tables and having Belinda wander with Charles following her.

The Public Eye - Program 1.jpg

The Public Eye - Program 2.jpg

UD Review.jpg

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Letters

You might wonder why there is a letter in here from Harvey's Bristol Cream Sherry. At the time they were running ads on TV showing "sophisticated" groups of people sharing Harvey's Bristol Cream as their drink of choice. As opposed to a group of college kids who would lay around in one dorm room on a Wednesday night and talk about plans for plays while getting drunk on a bottle (or 2) of the same. So... we wrote to them and asked if they'd like to include drunk college kids in their demographic. And we got a reply.

We never did get an ad of our own.

1974-09-06 - Residence Life.jpg

1974-11-18 - Residence Life Letter.jpg

1974-11-20 - Residence Life - Dickinson Show.jpg

1974-11-21 - Cash Money.jpg

1975 - Student Center Letter.jpg

1975-03-17 - Residence Life Letter 1.jpg

1975-03-17 - Residence Life Letter 2.jpg

1975-03-17 - Residence Life Letter.jpg

1975-04-30 - Harvey Bristol Creme.jpg

1975-05-11 - Medical Center Letter.jpg

1975-05-23 - Letter from AI DuPont.jpg

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