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Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society

{{short description|Theatre troupe at Georgetown University}}

{{Infobox organization

| name = Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society

| image = Mask and Bauble logo.jpg

| image_border =

| size =

| caption =

| abbreviation = M&B

| motto =

| formation = 1852

| type = Collegiate theatre troupe

| status = Active

| purpose = Student-run alternative

| headquarters = Stage III, Poulton Hall

| location = Georgetown University

| region_served = Washington, D.C., United States

| membership = 100+

| leader_title = Executive Producer

| leader_name = Lucia McLaughlin

| leader_title2 = Associate Producer

| leader_name2 = Celeste Viana

| website = {{URL|http://www.MaskAndBauble.org}}

| remarks =

}}

The Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society of Georgetown University is the oldest continuously running collegiate theatre troupe in the United States.{{cite web |url= http://www.thehoya.com/countrys-oldest-theater-troupe-shines/ |title= Country’s Oldest Theater Troupe Shines |work= The Hoya |first= Nicole |last= Jarvis |date= September 7, 2012 |accessdate= November 26, 2013}} Today, the Society is one of five theatre groups on the Georgetown campus and is entirely student-run. The group continues to provide an opportunity for students to develop artistic, technical, and administrative skills, while performing high-quality theatre in its 173rd season.

Mask and Bauble produces four main stage shows annually, including the Donn B. Murphy One Acts Festival, which focuses on student-written work. All shows are directed, produced, designed, and performed by students.

History

Mask and Bauble was founded in 1852 as The Dramatic Association of Georgetown College, staging its first show, Pizarro, a play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, on February 27, 1853.{{cite book |title= Georgetown University |last1= O'Neill |first1= Paul R. |first2= Paul K. |last2= Williams |publisher= Arcadia Publishing |year= 2003 |page= 24 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=peQeOeO39JMC&pg=PA24 |isbn= 0738515094}} World War I priorities caused a suspension of its performances, and after the war the group was revived with the new name of Mask and Bauble. The society was the first of its kind to use female actresses in 1922, as female roles were previously filled by male actors. It formally accepted female members in 1934.{{cite news |url= http://www.thehoya.com/node/255 |title= Mask & Bauble Provide 148 Years of Theater, GU Tradition |first= Melissa |last= Anelli |work= The Hoya |date= January 21, 2000 |accessdate= 2009-01-14}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}

During this time the Society had a close relationship with the Roosevelt White House, with Eleanor Roosevelt as a society patron.{{cite news |title= Mask and Bauble Club Drama Nearly Ready at Georgetown |work= The Washington Post |date= February 2, 1936 |url= https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/240184392.html?dids=240184392:240184392&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=FEB+02%2C+1936&author=&pub=The+Washington+Post&desc=Mask+and+Bauble+Club+Drama+Nearly+Ready+at+Georgetown&pqatl=google |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110525123326/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/240184392.html?dids=240184392:240184392&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=FEB+02,+1936&author=&pub=The+Washington+Post&desc=Mask+and+Bauble+Club+Drama+Nearly+Ready+at+Georgetown&pqatl=google |url-status= dead |archive-date= May 25, 2011 |accessdate= 2009-01-14}} During the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations, student technicians from the group assisted with the technical aspects of some of the nation's first televised presidential press conferences. This intimate relationship with the White House was nurtured by the society's faculty adviser, Donn B. Murphy, who also served as theatrical adviser to Kennedy and Johnson. Murphy served until 1976, although he remained involved with Georgetown theatre. The Society's annual playwright contest and one acts festival bears his name, and promotes student-written plays.{{cite book |title= Mr. Cheap's Washington, D.C. |first1= Corey |last1= Sandler |first2= Michael |last2= Lawrence |first3= Mark |last3= Waldstein |publisher= Adams Media |year= 2002 |isbn= 1580626939 |page= 169 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=nG0xrJbPLlcC&pg=PA169}}

Today

Mask and Bauble performs in Poulton Hall's Stage Three, on the Georgetown campus.{{cite web |title= Poulton Hall Stage 3 |work= The Washington Post |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=cityguide/profile&id=1027092 |year= 2008 |accessdate= 2009-01-14}} This theater space, part of the university, was occupied by students from the group over spring break in 1975. Unsatisfied with the university's commitment to theater, they squatted in what was previously Room 57, and built a makeshift theater they named Stage Two. The university forced this to be taken down, but built the group a small theater in Poulton Hall, which became Stage Three. Stage One was then converted into the scene and costume shop. While the club's alumni were very active in raising money to build Georgetown's new Davis Performing Arts Center, the society and other student groups have been restricted from using the center's main theatre due to their insistence on maintaining student, rather than faculty, direction.{{citation needed |date=September 2012}} In 2009, Mask & Bauble co-produced Caroline, or Change with the Black Theater Ensemble and the Department of Performing Arts on the main stage of the Davis center, making it the first student directed play on the Gonda Stage.{{cite news |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/18/AR2009111801648.html |title= D.C. Going Out Guide events: Nov. 19-25, 2009 |work= The Washington Post |date= November 19, 2009 |accessdate= September 4, 2012}}

Club membership currently stands over 100 students, surpassing Nomadic Theatre, one of the other theatre organizations on campus.

Production history

2024-2025 (173)

2023-2024 (172)

2022-2023 (171)

2021-2022 (170)

2020-2021 (169)

2019-2020 (168)

2018-2019 (167)

2017-2018 (166)

2016-2017 (165)

  • An American Daughter by Wendy Wasserstein (In collaboration with The Black Theatre Ensemble)
  • Wind Me Up, Maria!: A Go-Go Musical by Natsu Onoda Power and Charles "Shorty Corleone" Garris (In collaboration with Georgetown University Department of Performing Arts and The Black Theater Ensemble)
  • DBMOAF: featuring Victimology by Rachel Linton and The Gun by Grayson Ullman
  • Stupid Fucking Bird by Aaron Posner

2015-2016 (164)

2014-2015 (163)

2013-2014 (162)

2012-2013 (161)

2011-2012 (160)

2010-2011 (159)

2009-2010 (158)

2008-2009 (157)

  • 12 Angry Men
  • Raised in Captivity
  • The Foreigner
  • DBMOAF: featuring Witness
  • Jekyll and Hyde

2007-2008 (156)

  • Hamlet
  • All in the Timing
  • Black Comedy
  • DBMOAF: featuring In the Mind of a Great Man
  • Cabaret

2006-2007 (155)

  • The Importance of Being Earnest
  • The Glass Menagerie
  • Antigone
  • DBMOAF: featuring McSwiggen and the Ghost
  • A New Brain

2005-2006 (154)

  • Much Ado About Nothing
  • The Shape of Things
  • The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek
  • DBMOAF: featuring Chemistry
  • Urinetown

2004-2005 (153)

  • Aunt Dan and Lemon
  • The Love of the Nightingale
  • Cloud 9
  • DBMOAF: featuring Triptych and Diamonds are a Boy’s Best Friend
  • Assassins

Alumni

  • John Guare: American playwright, best known for The House of Blue Leaves and Six Degrees of Separation
  • Eileen Brennan: American film, television, and stage actress
  • John Barrymore: American stage and film actor
  • Jack Hofsiss: Director, best known for The Elephant Man
  • Antonin Scalia: Supreme Court Justice
  • Bradley Cooper: American film and television actor{{cite web |url= http://thecorp.org/blog/2011/11/cool-people-around-campus-chase-meacham-the-deep-blue-sea/ |title= Discovery Georgetown's Mask and Bauble |work= The Corp |date= November 9, 2011 |accessdate= September 4, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160125081340/http://thecorp.org/blog/2011/11/cool-people-around-campus-chase-meacham-the-deep-blue-sea/ |archive-date= 2016-01-25 |url-status= dead }}

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • [http://www.maskandbauble.org/ Official website]
  • [https://blogs.commons.georgetown.edu/maskandbauble/ Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society blog page]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20081230140017/http://performingarts.georgetown.edu/theater/CocurricularTheaterGroups/MaskBauble/ Current season information]
  • [http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2200014706 Facebook group page]

{{Georgetown University}}

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Category:Georgetown University student organizations

Category:Student theatre

Category:Theatre companies in Washington, D.C.

Category:1852 establishments in Washington, D.C.

Category:Organizations established in 1852