Purdue News
Purdue News
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March 10, 2000 Playshop leaders honored with scholarshipWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Members of Purdue Playshop have established a scholarship endowment to honor two men who helped guide the Purdue theater community through its developing years. The Joe Stockdale/Ross Smith Scholarship Endowment will provide scholarships for undergraduate students majoring in theater. The creation of the scholarship endowment was announced at the Purdue Playshop Theatre Reunion banquet on Feb. 26. The reunion provided an opportunity for attendees to reconnect with the theatrical community from their college days. Smith and Stockdale provided leadership for Purdue Playshop during the early days of theater at Purdue and committed their careers to educating students in the theater arts. Smith joined the Purdue faculty in 1942, was named director of theater in 1947, and held that title until 1968 when he accepted a position as artistic administrator at the University of Minnesota. Smith directed the first production mounted in the Loeb Playhouse, "Caesar and Cleopatra," in May 1958. Stockdale arrived at Purdue in 1950, left to teach for one year at the University of California, Santa Barbara College, returned to teach at Purdue from 1956 to 1975, and then left once again to become dean of theater arts and film at the State University of New York-Purchase. He was the first director of the Experimental Theatre. Purdue Playshop started as a laboratory or experimental producing unit in 1927 and was taken under the wing of the English department in 1931. Later, the speech department aided the theater program by providing a sizable drama staff and extended the curriculum in drama by offering both undergraduate and master's degree programs in theater. Theater became a separate academic unit in 1966 as a division in the Department of Creative Arts, now known as Visual and Performing Arts. CONTACT: Lori Sparger, Purdue Theatre marketing director, (765) 494-3084; theatre@purdue.edu
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