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[Note: the following article (known as a "Producer's Note") was written by Abe Bassett in October, 1986, for the production of Mice and Men, when he was the Producing Director of the Wright State University Theatre. The subject of the article is the play Summertree, produced in 1974. |
Wright State University, 23 years old this year, is obviously much too young to own such a legacy, but it is clear we are forging our own mark; I think about this when I recall a play I directed in the 1974-75 season, Ron Cowen’s Summertree, a play about the Vietnam War. Out of this experience came some very fond personal memories about the group of people who brought this play to life. Working in theatre, above everything else, is working with people and the people I worked with on Summertree are all very special. Let me share with you what has happened to the cast and crew.
The “Young Man,” the play’s lead character, was performed by Michael Markus, who graduated a year later in 1976 with a BFA in acting, but then decided that he wished to become a physician. By the time he gained his M.D. degree in 1983 from Wright State University’s School of Medicine, Michael had been in school for 23 consecutive years. He has since completed a residency in internal medicine, and is now preparing to enter private practice. Michael still harbors dreams of some day performing again on stage.
The “Mother” was Sharon Braunagel, a Colorado native who came here to study costume design. After graduation in 1976 she sought out a degree in nursing, but ended up earning a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Wright State, and is now doing vision research on a postdoctoral fellowship at Texas A & M University’s Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology.
Bruce Clayton Collier (the “Father”) worked several years in New York City after he graduated in 1977, where he landed a very good job at CBS, and where his play Tarts was produced off-Broadway. Bruce has since opted for a legal career and is now in his second year of law school at Tulane University where he finds his acting and writing skills are of great value.
Mary Buehrle (the “Girl”) has never been out of theatrical employment more than a few weeks since graduating in 1976. Mary seasoned herself with nearly three solid years of theatrical performance at the La Comedia Dinner Theatre before moving on the New York. She has recently appeared in several episodes of the television soap Guiding Light, and has toured in Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? in Detroit, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, and other cities.
The “Little Boy” of Summertree was not a Wright State student because he was only eleven years old. But he was a good-looking, sensitive, and very talented youngster who has since done exceptionally well and has become one of Hollywood’s most popular young heartthrobs. This is Rob Lowe, who has appeared in “The Outsiders,” “Hotel New Hampshire,” “Oxford Blues,” “Young Blood,” and the just-released “About Last Night.” He is currently in Texas filming “Square Dance” with Jason Robards, Jr. I remember that Rob was a very natural actor and a charming young person.
Our program lists three dozen students who worked backstage in Summertree. Most of them have graduated and have gone on to varied and successful careers. Kay DeHerder (master electrician), a Minnesotian, is married and living in Las Vegas where she is a light designer and master electrician for Vegas shows. Don Baker (shop assistant and house manager), M.F.A., is a costume designer and faculty member at Birmingham Southern College, Alabama. Robert Gureber (shop assistant) teaches theatre at Centerville High School and Minnesota native Lydia Josephs (staging) is an ordained minister in Saginaw, Michigan.
Lucinda Marker (staging) has worked in theatre in New York, Los Angeles, and New Mexico, and was for two years Business Manager at the Hudson Guild Theatre, an off-Broadway theatre. Terry Stump (shop assistant) has completed a decade of work as scene designer for La Comedia Dinner Theatre. K. C. Elston (props) recently performed at Gilly’s under the name of Cincinnati Slim.
Jim Volz (publicity) earned his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado and is managing director of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Jim’s book “Shakespeare Never Slept Here,” a history of the ASF, was published last month. Living in New York City are Marie Fortini (costumes) who works for Mead Data Central, and Marianna Harris (costumes), an actress. Christi Cowden (lights) became the first person to graduate with a degree in dance at Wright State, and after living in New York recently moved to Cincinnati. Bill Morse (costumes) is very active in Dayton area theatre and is touring his one-person show on Mark Twain, which he originally developed as a senior acting project. Bob Bailey (staging manager) is a buyer at Marshall Fields.
It is wonderfully nostalgic and also a bit inspiring to bring to mind so many fine people and to know they have found a high degree of satisfaction in their lives. I think that in the next few years many more Wright State alumni will be written and talked about. Tradition has to start somewhere. I think it has started here.
