 DramaTech Theatre | |
 | |
| Address | 349 Ferst Drive NW Atlanta, Georgia |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 33°46′31″N84°23′57″W / 33.775326°N 84.399103°W |
| Capacity | ~150 |
| Opened | April 1947 |
| Years active | 1947-Present |
| Website | |
| dramatech.org | |
DramaTech Theatre is Georgia Tech's student-run theater. They are also home to Let's Try This! (the campus improv troupe).
Georgia Tech first had a dramatic organization as early as 1913, when a student troupe later known as the Marionettes formed. This group disbanded during World War II and in February 1947, a group of drama enthusiasts on campus met with Glenn James and formed the Georgia Tech Dramatic Club. [1] [2] Their first production, The Drunkard, directed by Jack Pompan, IM '48, was so successful that the English department accredited the fledgling organization enabling it to obtain financial aid from the university system. Members received academic credit from the English department for their involvement. With this impetus, Zenas Sears, a local Atlanta radio personality, became the first professional director of DramaTech and presented a series of one-act plays in the Tech YMCA auditorium in the spring of 1947.
For the next several years, DramaTech was a vagabond organization, presenting its plays in a variety of venues, including the YMCA and the Fowler Street School Auditorium. In 1952, with the assistance of architecture classes, DramaTech moved into a new home in the Crenshaw Field House, where it adopted a unique theatre in the round.
Unfortunately, this home was impermanent, and DramaTech was forced to move several times in the ensuing years. It occupied temporary stages in the Community Playhouse, an old church at Hemphill and Ferst, and later adjoined to the Robert Ferst Center for the Arts thanks to the work of Dean of Students Emeritus James Dull. [3]
In the years before Georgia Tech became coeducational in 1952 and continuing until 1987, Agnes Scott College students and members of the community played women's roles and other roles that Georgia Tech students could not convincingly portray. Just as the Marionettes had in previous years, DramaTech produced critically acclaimed plays that were popular with the community, particularly during the long leadership of Atlanta actress Mary Nell Ivey Santacroce. Santacroce (1918-1999) directed nearly all of DramaTech's productions from 1949 until 1966. Other directors have included Sylvia Zsuffa (1947-1948), Zenas Sears (1948-1949), Gerard Appy (1952-1953), Charles J. Pecor (1967-1971), Dr. Fergus G. "Tad" Currie (1971-1973), Dana Ivey (1974-1977), Becky Dettra (1977-1980), David Califf (1980-1983), Scott Rousseau (1983-1984), and Greg Abbott (1984-2006).
In the early 90s, DramaTech created its own improv troupe, Let's Try This!, which is now 25 years old. The improv troupe began with the help of Robert Lowe and has continued to grow as a troupe, performing multiple times a semester and getting out into the Atlanta area.
In 1992, DramaTech finally acquired a permanent home with the dedication of the Dean James Dull Theatre at the back of the Robert Ferst Center for the Arts. Dean Emeritus Dull and his wife Gay, long-time supporters of DramaTech, established the Gay K. Dull Scholarship awarded to seniors who have been involved with the organization. Dean Dull died on March 22, 2009. [4]
Greg Abbott, long-time artistic director of DramaTech died in December, 2006. [5] [6] Friends of DramaTech (FODT), the DramaTech alumni organization, offers the Gregory B. Abbott DramaTech Scholarship in his honor to current DramaTech students.
DramaTech Alumnus Tony Vila created a database with the list of all past shows, the cast and crew list, and other people who contributed to the shows. [7]
Melissa Foulger is the current artistic director, having joined DramaTech in fall 2008.
Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, action, story, and characters are created collaboratively by the players as the improvisation unfolds in present time, without use of an already prepared, written script.
George P. Burdell is a fictitious student officially enrolled at Georgia Tech in 1927 as a practical joke. Since then, he has supposedly received all undergraduate degrees offered by Georgia Tech, served in the military, gotten married, and served on Mad Magazine's Board of Directors, among other accomplishments.
Great Lakes Theater, originally known as the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival, is a professional classic theater company in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1962, Great Lakes specializes in large-cast classic plays, often performing the works of Shakespeare. The company performs its main stage productions in rotating repertory at the Hanna Theatre in Playhouse Square, which reopened in 2008. The organization shares a resident company of artists with the Idaho Shakespeare Festival. On its main stage and through its education programs, GLT reaches approximately 85,000 adults and students each season.
The Whole World Theatre is an improvisational theatre located in Atlanta, Georgia.
Scotch'n'Soda is a student-run theatre organization that resides on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University. Its initial dedication was the creation and production of original musicals, but has now taken to performing both professionally published and student-written materials. Students are welcome to write, compose, design, direct, perform in, and otherwise become involved with every aspect of each production. The organization is open to all Carnegie Mellon students from all backgrounds who are interested, and all performances are public with varying ticket prices.
The Ramblin' Reck from Georgia Tech is the 1930 Ford Model A Sport coupe that serves as the official mascot of the student body at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The Reck is present at all major sporting events and student body functions. Its most noticeable role is leading the football team into Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field, a duty which the Reck has performed since 1961. The Ramblin' Reck is mechanically and financially maintained on campus by students in Ramblin' Reck Club.
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Dana Ivey is an American actress. She is a five-time Tony Award nominee for her work on Broadway, and won the 1997 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play for her work in both Sex and Longing and The Last Night of Ballyhoo. She originated the title role in Driving Miss Daisy and was nominated for a Drama Desk award for Best Actress in a Play. Her film appearances include The Color Purple (1985), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), The Addams Family (1991), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Addams Family Values (1993), Two Weeks Notice (2002), Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003), Rush Hour 3 (2007), and The Help (2011).
Numerous Georgia Tech legends and traditions have been established since the school's opening in 1888, some of which have persisted for decades. Over time, the school has grown from a trade school into a large research university, and the traditions reflect that heritage. One of the cherished holdovers from Tech's early years, a steam whistle blows every weekday at various times to mark the changing of classes. It's for this reason that the faculty newspaper is named The Whistle.
The history of the Georgia Institute of Technology can be traced back to Reconstruction-era plans to develop the industrial base of the Southern United States. Founded on October 13, 1885, in Atlanta as the Georgia School of Technology, the university opened in 1888 after the construction of Tech Tower and a shop building and only offered one degree in mechanical engineering. By 1901, degrees in electrical, civil, textile, and chemical engineering were also offered. In 1948, the name was changed to the Georgia Institute of Technology to reflect its evolution from an engineering school to a full technical institute and research university.
The Atlanta Radio Theatre Company. (ARTC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to preserving, promoting, performing, and educating people about the art of audio theatre.
Theatre Strike Force is the University of Florida's premier improv and sketch comedy troupe. The group also goes by TSF. The style of improv performed by Theatre Strike Force is a combination long form and short form. They both teach and perform improvisational comedy. They have six house teams which include both forms of improv as well as a sketch team. There are four long form house teams which are cast every semester and usually have six to eight members. The TSF Short Form Team is cast every semester as well and usually has fifteen to nineteen members. TSF Sketch is the final house team and usually has twelve to sixteen members, cast each semester.
George C. Griffin (1897–1990) served in various positions at his alma mater, the Georgia Institute of Technology, most notably as dean of men from 1946 to 1964. He was known variously as "the best friend of all Tech men" and "Mr. Georgia Tech."
The Ferst Center for the Arts, located in Atlanta, Georgia, is Georgia Tech's theater and arts center and is adjacent to DramaTech, the student-run theater. It contains a 950-seat auditorium that features a proscenium stage, orchestra pit, and theatrical lighting and sound systems.
The Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket Marching Band is the official marching band of the Georgia Institute of Technology. Founded in 1908 by a group of 14 students, the Georgia Tech Band is one of the school's oldest student organizations.
Indian Nutcracker, also called Swapna Vijayam, is an adaptation of the 1892 ballet The Nutcracker into the South Indian classical dance form of Kuchipudi, with Telugu lyrics. It was first performed on 15 December 2007 at the Robert Ferst Center for the Arts at Georgia Tech, to raise funds for the Emory University Telugu Initiative.
The Atlanta Gay Men's Chorus (AGMC) is a nonprofit performing arts organization based in Atlanta, Georgia (US). The AGMC, along with the Atlanta Women's Chorus, are managed under their parent organization, Voices of Note.
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of the University System of Georgia and has satellite campuses in Savannah, Georgia, Metz, France, Shenzhen, China, and Singapore.
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The main campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology occupies part of Midtown Atlanta, primarily bordered by 10th Street to the north, North Avenue to the south, and, with the exception of Tech Square, the Downtown Connector to the East, placing it well in sight of the Atlanta skyline. In 1996, the campus was the site of the athletes' village and a venue for a number of athletic events for the 1996 Summer Olympics. The construction of the Olympic Village, along with subsequent gentrification of the surrounding areas, significantly changed the campus.
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