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Dr. Soper stepped down as Head of the Theatre Department in 1972. Ralph Allen was appointed Head and charged by the Dean of Liberal Arts to expand the faculty and production program of the department. In 1993, Clarence Brown and his wife, Marian Spies Brown, bestowed upon the theatre program the largest single gift ever received by a program at the University of Tennessee. This magnificent bequest of $12 million provides an permanent endowment fund that ensures a high level of support for professional theatre and theatre study at U.T.
On the basis of this support from the Brown family, Ralph Allen and Sir Anthony Quayle founded the Clarence Brown Theatre Company, a LORT B (League of Resident Theatres) company. With grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and with Quayle as star, the company made extensive tours throughout the southeast over a number of seasons. In 1976 the company production of Rip Van Winkle, starring Quayle and directed by Joshua Logan, played at the Kennedy Center. Other company members have included: Zoe Caldwell, Dame Judith Anderson, Mary Martin, Orson Bean, June Havoc, Earl Hyman, and Eva LeGallienne. A number of plays were developed at the Clarence Brown and then moved to New York. The most successful was the New Majestic Follies, written and directed by Ralph Allen. On Broadway it became the popular review, Sugar Babies. Other productions that moved to New York included: Do You Turn Somersaults? starring Quayle and Mary Martin; and A Meeting By The River featuring Simon War, Siobhan McKenna, and Sam Jaffe.
During Allen's tenure the faculty of the department became more specialized, established a more professional training curriculum, and laid the groundwork for a Master of Fine Arts program. In 1978 Lorayne Lester became Head of the Department of Speech and Theatre, and in the fall of 1980, the new three-year Masters program accepted 11 students for its first class. In 1985, Peter Garvie became head of the department when Lorayne Lester was promoted to Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. In that same year, the Theatre Department was designated a “Center of Excellence” by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.
In 1987, Thomas Cooke became Head of the Department. Dr. Cooke created an extraordinary program of exchange with international theatre artists. Under his direction the department hosted and co-sponsored numerous events, including the International Theatre Festival, several world premiere productions of plays, and a conference on actor training with participants from more than 17 countries. MFA students began the study abroad trips that continue to be a hallmark of the U.T. program.
In 2000, Blake Robison became Department Head and Producing Artistic Director for the Clarence Brown Theatre. Under his leadership, the Department of Theatre re-shaped the undergraduate and graduate curriculum, developed an extensive community outreach program, created a student run African-American theatre company, inaugurated the Salzburg Seminar study-abroad residency, and renovated the Carousel and Clarence Brown Theatre facilities. New international initiatives include regular study-abroad opportunities for students and the development of Babel – an international co-production of the Clarence Brown Company.
In January 2006, Calvin MacLean, longtime Artistic Director of the Illinois Shakespeare Festival and Professor at Illinois State University, was appointed the new UT Theatre Department Head and Producing Artistic Director for the Clarence Brown Theatre. This new chapter at the Clarence Brown Theatre holds the promise of great performance, thrilling design, and execptional theatre throughout a longer production year, as well as a greater variety of programming.
The University of Tennessee | College of Arts & Sciences | UTK Theatre Department | Knoxville, Tennessee 37996 | 865-974-5161
