Town & Gown Theater
Town & Gown Theater was a community theater company sponsored by UAB since its days as the University of Alabama's Birmingham Extension Center with performances at the Clark Memorial Theater at Caldwell Park in Birmingham's Highland Park neighborhood.
The program was known for staging high-quality productions with casts assembled from established veteran actors, accomplished local performers, and talented students. The company often toured around the state and occasionally performed overseas. Town & Gown gave Alabama its first racially-integrated theater production with "A Member of the Wedding" in 1969. Its 1975 production of Shakespeare's "Othello" with John Nixon in the title role gained national notice.
The program was gradually absorbed into UAB's academic structure, first as part of the Department of Performing Arts in the UAB School of Humanities,
Founding director James Hatcher served as director of the program until 1991. Hatcher's tenure was followed by Gary Robertson until 1996, and then by Lang Reynolds. The program ended in 1999 as the university consolidated its performance programs at the newly-opened Alys Stephens Center.
References
- "James F. Hatcher Jr.; Producer, 71" obituary (March 23, 1993) The New York Times
- "James F. Hatcher Jr., founder of theater in Birmingham, 71" obituary (March 1993) Associated Press
- Harvey, Alec (June 25, 2024) "Hundreds of UAB Town and Gown Theatre programs now available digitally." By Alec Harvey
External links
- Town & Gown Theater Director Papers at library.uab.edu