Producer\u27s Notes: A Personal History of the Department of Theatre Arts at Wright State University, 1970-1988

Producer\u27s Notes is a vividly written personal history of a theatre department that within ten years of its founding became Ohio’s dominant undergraduate theatre program. Three times cited by the Ohio Board of Higher Education the department was awarded Program Excellence Awards, which came with prizes of more than one and one half million dollars. It is today considered one of nation’s top five exclusively undergraduate theatre programs. The leader of a talented and hardworking group of faculty is Abe J Bassett who predicted in1970 that the Theatre at Wright State would be recognized as the best theatre program in Ohio. By 1980, the Department led the state in number of majors and size of audience. At the time of the prediction, there were only two faculty, six theatre courses, and no facilities. The success of the program was achieved while it labored grossly understaffed, underpaid and short of offices, classrooms and studios. This is a story of remarkable achievement through persistent hard work and an attitude that demonstrates that action brings opportunity