Fifty years of WOW

“We are one of the best kept secrets of Toledo, not just of Toledo, but of this whole area.”

This is how Irene Alby, associate theatre lecturer, describes the University of Toledo’s theatre department.

UT’s department of theatre and film is celebrating its 50-year milestone with a weekend bash Sept. 19-21.

Anyone who has been involved with the department from the past 50 years is invited to attend.

Since its inception in 1964, the department of theatre and film has seen name changes, a new building and numerous professors; however, one thing remains the same, the department’s continuous collaboration with the Toledo community.

Madonna DuVal, former department secretary, served under the tenure of Chairman Bernie Coyne when the department began.

DuVal said programs like Summerstage, High School Student’s Day and Theatre in the Schools were great interactions with the Toledo community.

Summerstage “is where the department hired two professional actors from New York to work with the students, who were also paid, to put on first class theatre productions for the entire Toledo community during the summer, in the early 80’s,” said DuVal.

Events like Summerstage also retain special memories for DuVal.

“Of course if it were not for Summerstage, I would not have met my husband, Herb DuVal,” DuVal said. “He was hired the summer of 1981, I followed him to New York in 1982, and we were married in 1983.”

Since that time, however, DuVal said those programs have stopped, but the department’s connection to the Toledo community has not, Alby said.

Alby said since she and her husband, Cornel Gabara, began work at UT in 2004, they have collaborated with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and founded the Glacity Theatre Collective, a Toledo based theatre company.

Alby also said there are a handful of opportunities to see student productions.

“We have a lot of events: 24-hour plays, four plays a year, screenings, guest artists,” Alby said. “Anyone can get involved; you don’t have to be a major to get involved with what we do.”

Kate Abu-Absi, a UT theatre alum of 1993, said involvement with theatrical arts is what changes lives.

“When I started at UT I had no background in theatre whatsoever,” Abu-Absi said. “I really and truly fell into it. I think that it was the thing that saved me, I don’t know that I would have graduated even, because I was sort of aimless and all of the sudden it was my home for the years that I was here on campus.”

Abu-Absi is now the Director of the UT Arts Living Learning Community where she encourages students to participate in the performing arts.

“I’ve watched the students here have the same experience,” Abu-Absi said. “I’ve had the opportunity to know all of these students going through the program and watching it transform them…It’s amazing, it is really amazing.”

Abu-Absi said the size of the department makes it easier for students to get involved, and Gina Gass, a fifth-year theatre & film major, agrees.

Gass said she was able to work tech crew on a performance her first year at UT. She has since had the opportunity to work tech and be on the stage.

“It’s intense being a part of theatre,” Gass said. “You have to come in with an open mind and heart, but the professors are the most caring, dedicated, focused people that, from day one, teach you how to be professional and make the right connections to lead their students into the real world with full confidence.”

According Abu-Absi, the professors are what set the theatre and film department apart.

“I looked up to my professors so much, I mean, they walked on water,” Abu-Absi said.

Alby said the faculty gives students a “bicoastal experience.” Many faculty members come from professional venues in New York and Los Angeles.

“What we do is prep you for cities like New York and LA,” Alby said. “We do things like color-blind casting, like they do in the big cities, we take on shows that talk about themes that a lot of other departments wouldn’t tackle, we’re willing to take risks on stage and be political on stage.”

The department of theatre and film 50 Years of WOW celebration will be held at the Center for Performing Arts. There will be live performances, food and the department founder Bernie Coyne.

Alby said the department has been a collective effort with many people and they can all agree on one thing.

“We have established a reputation for doing really interesting work,” she said.