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TheAl calaPark Players
The show must go on! Three weeks aft er
the theat re was completed inNovember 1952,
a drama clubwas organized;und er the lead
ership of Mary Turne r, and the first annual
Chris tmasPa ge an t pr od uc ed by Mother
Furay unde r the title of "Pagea nt of the
Nations."
In Sept ember 1953 this club with Mother
Campbell as moderator drew up a cons titu
tion which states that the purpose of the
organization is to afford students an oppor
tuni ty to:
put the theory of d rama i ntopractic e
develop a love of goo d theatre
enrich the knowledge of history and lite r
atu re learnedin academ ic courses.
December of '53 brought the second annua l
Chri stmas pageant entitl ed "Christmas in
Merry Old Engl and, and in the spring the
drama club was bap tized "The Alcala Park
Players" on the occasion of its first major pro
duction — Maxwell Anderson 's"Mary of Scot
land, directed by Lucille Downs Devereaux.
Star ring in this production were Marilynn
Mayer and Diane Sinclai r, who were double
cast in the role of Mary Stuart ; Kathl een
Brophy and Paula Sabin, inthe role of Que en
Elizabe th. Rebecca Radford was a Bothwell
equ al to both Mary's.
I n t h e fa l l of 1 9o4 Ev e l yn Kr a il wa s
elected president of the club; Marie Mathew,
vice preside nt; Arlene Raymond, secretary. It
was the ir immedia te privilege to launch,
under the guidance of Mothe r Furay, a fall
produc tion to climax Marian Year activities.
Th e dramatizatio n of Franz Werfel's "Song
of Bernadet te" was chosen, withPaula Sabin
play ing the title role. And this year's Christ
mas pageantwas called "A Mary Christmas
in honor of the closing of the Marian Year.
By spring studen ts were hungry for more
thea tre . Consequently, anothe r drama —"Let
ters to Lucerne"was produced in April with
major roles played by Arline Raymond, Bev
erly O'Connor , Tanya Finlayson, Barbara
Vidal, Doro thy Wawrzvnski , Diane Sinclair,
and Kathleen Wells tein.
Sep tember'55 saw Evelyn Krail re-elected
president of the club with Suzanne Tilleyas
vice president andTrudy Crampton as secre
tary . "American Chris tmas" was the theme of
the fourth annual Chris tmas pageant. And,
not to be outdone by Shakespearerevivals in
London and on Broadway, the Players chose
"Midsummer Night's Dream" as the spring
produc tion for 1956. Mr. R. B. Van Vleck,
Professor of Spee ch at the San Diego College
for Men, was invited to direct the play. The
immortal roles of Bottom and Puck were
played by Sandra Jelinekand Patricia Crowe,
while Titaniaand Oberon were impersonated
by Margo Lester and Sharon Smith.