The Rise of Campus Dramatics (Part III): The Raymond Taylor Years



Raymond Taylor

The most significant event to happen to early campus dramatics was the arrival of Raymond Taylor, who joined the English Department in 1921 as a professor of speech. He would go on to become the school’s Director of Drama for the next thirty years. Taylor was a very qualified hire, having a Bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master’s degree from Harvard. Although College president Julius Foust was not convinced that dramatics should be included in the school’s official curriculum, Taylor was eventually allowed to teach courses in theatre production and playwriting, as well as speech. Foust also was not supportive of the female students dressing in pants, even for theatre productions, but Taylor purchased men’s suits for the young women to wear when they were playing male roles. He pushed the rules even further when he allowed students to smoke cigarettes on stage, an activity strictly forbidden by the College.

Under Taylor’s guidance, the Dramatic Club became The Dramatic Association of the North Carolina College for Women (now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro) and finally, in 1924, the Playlikers, which became the only campus organization allowed to perform plays. That year, the students performed five plays featuring both students and faculty. In 1925, the students took one of their production, Will-o’-the-Wisp, to Chicago for the National College Theatre Tournament and won second place. Taylor also accompanied his students to New York to see plays featuring famous stars, such as Ethel Barrymore, and to visit sites such as the Metropolitan Museum, the Aquarium, and the Statue of Liberty. In 1926, the Playlikers first performed plays written by students, specifically, a tragedy titled The Quick and the Dead, set in Eastern North Carolina, and a comedy titled Sims.  Taylor also established the Masqueraders, an honorary dramatic society.


The Playlikers Try on Costumes for a Campus Production



Eventually, the Playlikers would include not only students, but also members of the community in their productions. This added much-needed male participants to the all-girl school performances, now held at Aycock Auditorium (currently UNCG Auditorium).  By the 1930s, the students were offering one play per month to audiences of over 2000 people. Perhaps recognizing that his students lacked proper stage elocution, Taylor requested that the College add two speech specialists to the faculty. He commented that his students showed “nasality, lisping, harshness, weak and thin voice texture, lack of breath control, sameness and monotony of tone, drawling and stuttering, exaggerated and disagreeable sectional accents, nervous rapidity, faulty enunciation and pronunciation, [and] affected elocution.”

The Parkway Playhouse

The venue for campus programs expanded in 1941 when an amphitheater was constructed as part of a Works Project Administration (WPA) project. It had a seating capacity of 2500 people and included an outdoor stage to be used for May Day celebrations, plays, and pageants. Additionally, the 1940s ushered in a summer repertory program which would eventually move to the small town of Burnsville, North Carolina. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the theatre would be called the “Parkway Playhouse.” 

The Taylor Theatre

In the late 1940s, Taylor began to lose control of the program, and a growing lack of student interest caused the Playlikers organization to “disintegrate.” Finally, in 1949, the faculty advisory committee recommended that the College hire a new director of Dramatics, and Raymond Taylor, once considered the father of the school’s Dramatic program, was removed from leadership. Although he had less administrative responsibilities, Taylor continued to teach until his retirement in 1960, and when a new theatre was constructed on campus in 1967, it was named in his honor.

The Lost Clubs and Groups of UNCG

Every campus had them - groups and clubs that embody a time period where a certain activity was in demand or appeared relevant. From horseback riding, to women carpenters, to school plays performed by a swimming club, learning about these groups help to enlighten us about what was important and trending in different eras of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). This blog will focus on four groups or clubs that had a significant effect on the campus and its students. All photos shown in this exhibit come directly from the SCUA archives. Information about these groups was found in UNCG yearbooks, student handbooks, and various texts about the campus history. When looking at these student-based groups, what we can begin to interpret is how time and technology has altered what the students engaged in, or what they cared about.

 

Y.W.C.A.

Campus Y.W.C.A. group, 1908/09

One of the oldest groups on campus, the Young Women’s Christian Association (Y.W.C.A.), elected its first president on December 6, 1892. This group of women was responsible for almost all of the religious activities that were held on campus, such as Sunday school, prayer meetings, and volunteering for other Christian organizations. Other important Y.W.C.A. based activities were missionary support, helping finance students who wished to travel to foreign countries for religious or social work, and publishing the Student Handbook from 1892 until 1935.

Playlikers

Playlikers group photo, 1938/39

The Dramatic Club was officially organized in 1912-1913, with a presentation of Booth Tarkington’s, The American, being a part of the Commencement that year. The club encouraged girls who wanted to act in plays to be in the spotlight as frequently as possible. By the 1920’s, the name had changed to the Playlikers, and Raymond Taylor had taken over as director of the drama department. The club began to travel across the state to perform and built a healthy reputation. One of the major traditions that formed was to present plays written by UNCG students.

Outing Club



Outing Club trip, Pilot Mountain, NC, 1967

“Going places and doing things” was the motto given to the Outing Club by the Greensboro Record writer, Bodie McDowell, in a brief article on the active group. The club was officially formed in 1966 by students that were avid climbers and knew of others interested in outdoor adventures. The club organized everything from skiing, horseback riding, and mountain climbing to canoe trips, camping, and sailing, at affordable costs for all students involved.

 Dolphin-Seal Club

Dolphin-Seal Club, 1963

Originally, when the club was formed in 1926, it was only known as the "Dolphin Club." Its aim was to help improve swimming stroke and technique. Later, the "Seal" was added to include women who wished to swim but were not as advanced as their “Dolphin-sisters.” By the 1930’s and 40’s, the club hosted many events to help raise money and entertain the campus through water-based plays and musicals. Though UNCG still has a swimming team, the Dolphin-Seal club is no longer part of the university.

This blog was created by Ralph Butcher, History Department Intern at the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, November 2014.