The Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society of Georgetown University is the oldest continuously running collegiate theatre troupe in the United States. 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 170th 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 Francisco Pizarro González, Marquess of the Atabillos (; ; – 26 June 1541) was a Spanish conquistador, best known for his expeditions that led to the Spanish conquest of Peru. Born in Trujillo, Spain to a poor family, Pizarro chose ...

'', a play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, on February 27, 1853. 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. During this time the Society had a close relationship with the Roosevelt White House, with Eleanor Roosevelt as a society patron. During the Eisenhower and

Kennedy Kennedy may refer to: People * John F. Kennedy (1917–1963), 35th president of the United States * John Kennedy (Louisiana politician), (born 1951), US Senator from Louisiana * Kennedy (surname), a family name (including a list of persons with t ...

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 Donn B. Murphy (July 21, 1930 – April 3, 2022) taught theatre and speech courses at Georgetown University from 1954 to 2000. At the invitation of Jacqueline Kennedy and Letitia Baldrige, he became a theatrical advisor to the John F. Kennedy and ...

, who also served as theatrical adviser to Kennedy and Johnson. Murphy served until 1976, although he remains involved with Georgetown theatre. The Society's annual playwright contest and one acts festival bears his name, and promotes student-written plays.

Today

Mask and Bauble performs in Poulton Hall's Stage Three, on the Georgetown campus. This theater space, part of the university, was occupied by students from the group over spring break in 1975. Unsatisfied with university 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. 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. Club membership currently stands over 100 students, surpassing

Nomadic Theatre Nomadic Theatre is a co-curricular, student-led theatre group at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. in the United States. Focused on being "technically ambitious and socially engaged," it is dedicated to producing new works that have an asp ...

, one of the other theatre organizations on campus.

Production History

2022-2023 (171) * Night of Musical Scenes *

Love's Labour's Lost ''Love's Labour's Lost'' is one of William Shakespeare's early comedies, believed to have been written in the mid-1590s for a performance at the Inns of Court before Elizabeth I of England, Queen Elizabeth I. It follows the King of Navarre and ...

by William Shakespeare *DBMOAF * Into the Woods by James Lapine and

Stephen Sondheim Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March 22, 1930November 26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. One of the most important figures in twentieth-century musical theater, Sondheim is credited for having "reinvented the American musical" with sho ...

2021-2022 (170) * Machinal by Sophie Treadwell * Beyond the Lights (In collaboration with Black Theatre Ensemble) * Violet by Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley *DBMOAF: featuring ''Grand Courses'' by Nick Giotis, ''Duty Free As A Way of Coping'' by Anjali Britto, and ''Huelga'' by Catherine Shonack 2020-2021 (169) * Antigone by Gilbert Murray *DBMOAF: featuring ''The Ponderosa'' by Isaac Warren *

Man of La Mancha ''Man of La Mancha'' is a 1965 musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh, and lyrics by Joe Darion. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay ''I, Don Quixote'', which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervantes ...

by Dale Wasserman, Mitch Leigh, and Joe Darion 2019-2020 (168) * J.B. by Archibald MacLeish *DBMOAF: featuring ''Marblehead, MA'' by Amelia Walsh * Hedda Gabler by Patrick Marber 2018-2019 (167) *DBMOAF: featuring ''Four Lemons and a Funeral'' by Allison Lane and ''Hazel & Stanley'' by Timmy Sutton *

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...

by William Shakespeare * Speech & Debate by

Stephen Karam Stephen Karam (born ) is an American playwright, screenwriter and director. His plays ''Sons of the Prophet'', a comedy-drama about a Lebanese-American family, and '' The Humans'' were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2012 and 2016, ...

(In collaboration with Georgetown University Department of Performing Arts) * Hello Again by Michael John LaChiusa 2017-2018 (166) *

Rumors A rumor (American English), or rumour (British English; see spelling differences; derived from Latin:rumorem - noise), is "a tall tale of explanations of events circulating from person to person and pertaining to an object, event, or issue in p ...

by Neil Simon *DBMOAF: featuring ''Roots'' by Devika Ranjan *

Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play ''Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play'' (stylized ''Mr. Burns, a post-electric play'') is an American black comedy play written by Anne Washburn and featuring music by Michael Friedman. ''Mr. Burns'' tells the story of a group of survivors recalling ...

Anne Washburn Anne Washburn is an American playwright. Life Washburn graduated from Reed College and from New York University, with an M.F.A. Her plays have been produced in New York City by Cherry Lane Theatre, Clubbed Thumb, The Civilians, Vineyard Theatre, ...

(In collaboration with

) * Footloose by Tom Snow, Dean Pitchford, and Walter Bobbie 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 ''Stupid Fucking Bird'' is a contemporary adaptation of Anton Chekhov's 1896 play ''The Seagull,'' written by American playwright Aaron Posner, co-founder of the Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia. Posner has written multiple adaptations of Che ...

by Aaron Posner 2015-2016 (164) *

All My Sons ''All My Sons'' is a three-act play written in 1946 by Arthur Miller. It opened on Broadway at the Coronet Theatre in New York City on January 29, 1947, closed on November 8, 1949, and ran for 328 performances. It was directed by Elia Kazan (t ...

by Arthur Miller *DBMOAF: featuring ''Beyond'' *

Cyrano Cyrano may refer to: Astronomy * 3582 Cyrano, a small main belt asteroid * Cyrano (crater), a lunar impact crater that lies on the far side of the Moon Stage and film * ''Cyrano'' (Damrosch), a 1913 opera by Walter Damrosch * ''Cyrano'', a 195 ...

by Aaron Posner and Michael Hollinger * Into the Woods by

and James Lapine 2014-2015 (163) * Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee *DBMOAF: featuring ''Sonder'' *Killer Joe by Tracy Letts (in collaboration with

) * Urinetown by

Mark Hollmann Mark Hollmann is an American composer and lyricist. Hollmann grew up in Fairview Heights, Illinois, where he graduated from Belleville Township High School East in 1981. He won a 2002 Tony Award and a 2001 Obie Award for his music and lyrics to ' ...

and Greg Kotis 2013-2014 (162) * Don't Drink the Water by Woody Allen *DBMOAF: featuring ''How To Succeed With Dolls'' by Tim Lyons *

Proof Proof most often refers to: * Proof (truth), argument or sufficient evidence for the truth of a proposition * Alcohol proof, a measure of an alcoholic drink's strength Proof may also refer to: Mathematics and formal logic * Formal proof, a con ...

David Auburn David Auburn (born 30 November 1969) is an American playwright, screenwriter and theatre director. He is best known for his 2000 play '' Proof'', which won the 2001 Tony Award for Best Play and Pulitzer Prize for Drama. He also wrote the screen ...

* She Loves Me by Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick, and

Joe Masteroff Joe Masteroff (December 11, 1919 – September 28, 2018) was an American playwright. Early life Masteroff was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Jewish parents Louis Masteroff from Korsun, Russia (now Ukraine) and to the former Rose Pogost f ...

2012-2013 (161) * The History Boys by Alan Bennett *DBMOAF: featuring ''Spiritual Ecstasies'' *Polk Street by T. Chase Meacham (in collaboration with

) * Spring Awakening by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater 2011-2012 (160) *DBMOAF: featuring Peaches and Freon and #Courage * The Deep Blue Sea by Terence Rattigan * The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin *

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

by William Shakespeare 2010-2011 (159) * Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring *DBMOAF: featuring Typhoid Fever * Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street by

and Hugh Wheeler * Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire *Workshops: Trial of God by

Elie Wiesel Elie Wiesel (, born Eliezer Wiesel ''Eliezer Vizel''; September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Peace Prize, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored Elie Wiesel b ...

, and Tennessee Williams Night of Scenes 2009-2010 (158) * No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre * Caroline, or Change by Jeanine Tesori and Tony Kushner * The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard *DBMOAF: featuring The Hypothetical Detective * The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare 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 Antonin Gregory Scalia (; March 11, 1936 – February 13, 2016) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2016. He was described as the intellectu ...

: Supreme Court Justice * Bradley Cooper: American film and television actor

References

External links

Official website

Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society blog page

Current season information

Facebook group page
{{authority control Georgetown University student organizations Student theatre Theatre companies in Washington, D.C. 1852 establishments in Washington, D.C. Organizations established in 1852