It all began in 1899 when the college formed the Elocution and Oratory Department , with classes in voice, phonetics, and vocal interpretation. The department was under the pioneering efforts of Professor Florence Davidson and Instructor Elsie Weary.

By 1907 demand for vocal training was significant, and the department enrolled 30 students. Student interest led to an expanded curriculum and the formation of a new department called the School of Expression located in Conservatory of Music.

Click on the image
for more historic views
of Morningside's early campus.

In 1908, Grace Methodist Church was built at the southern end of campus. This allowed the college chapel, located in Main Hall, to be used for more secular purposes--including theatre productions.  However, productions were sometimes performed at Grace Church, including a performance of the Medieval mystery play Everyman in the 1920s.

Click on the image
to go to Grace United
Methodist's website.

The 1910 College Yearbook noted the importance of training in the performing arts:

Many of our great writers and great scholars lay much stress upon the power of the human voice and personality to convey the thoughts of the great masters.  For this purpose of training these thought conveyances so that they will best perform their officers, the Department of Expression offers several courses.

Training is given in voice, bodily expression, impersonation and interpretation; also in debate and oratory.  Recitals are given every two weeks where the pupils have opportunity to recite in public, enabling them to cultivate an easy stage presence.

In the early 1900s, Morningside students went to Sioux City's Peavey Grand Opera House to observe such legendary actors as Edwin Booth and Sarah Berhardt. Click here more historic views of Sioux City.

By 1914 students could take a two-year course that included studies in "voice cultivation, physical culture, bodily expression, literary appreciation and dramatic art."

Who is this man, and what does he have
to do with the theatre department?
Ask our designer, Mike Rohlena.
To learn about the famous Sioux City company the
fellow in the picture started in 1914, click on his image.

In the 1920s, William Shakespeare was the most frequently produced playwright at Morningside.

In 1927, students and faculty chartered the Alpha Gamma cast of the national theatre fraternity, Alpha Psi Omega. This is one of the oldest departmental honor societies on campus.

In 1928 the first theatre minor was offered, and from then on, productions of dramas, musicals, comedies, and operas abounded.

During the 1930s, the Great Depression devastated Iowa, but Morningside survived.

The government provided jobs for the unemployed through programs like the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Leo Kuchinski, fabled conductor of the Sioux City Symphony and professor of music at Morningside, worked tirelessly to get the WPA's help in building a large bandshell at Grandview Park. The bandshell is still actively in use, and provides the stage for the Municipal Band, and for performers like The Black Crows, Carlos Santana, and Chuck Berry at the annual music event, Saturday in the Park.

During the lean years of 1932 and '33, Morningside faculty often went without pay and students sometimes paid for tuition with commodities like fresh eggs, produce, and even livestock.

Speaking of livestock, Sioux City was home to one of the world's busiest (and stinkiest!) stockyards in America. Now that area is a thriving commercial district, and elements from one of the banks located in the old "yard" have been transformed into a magnificent fountain.

Despite the Great Depression, Morningside theatre prevailed, producing all manner of plays, including Phillip Barry's classic comedy Holiday, in 1939.

From Top To Bottom:
The Bandshell at Grandview Park.
Click image for info about Saturday in the Park.

The Stockyards grew to cover almost 90 acres.

The Roth Fountain is located in the Sioux City Historic District, on Fourth Street, downtown. Click on the fountain to learn more about this area.

Holiday, 1939
Click image for info on Philip Barry

During the early 1940s, male enrollment at the dropped as young men entered the armed forces to fight in WWII, but the theatre program kept going by doing plays like Girls Must Talk and Little Women which were essentially all-girl casts.  The proceeds from the ticket sales of Little Women (produced in 1946) were donated to a local Girl Scout development fund, which would be used, in the words of then Morningside President, Dr. Earl Roadman,  to "salute future coeds" who would attend the college.

At that time, a young woman also led the theatre program and directed productions--Ruth Butts, a graduate of Northwestern University. She remained at the college until 1948. It would take another 40 years before another woman joined the theatre faculty. In 1987,  Morningside graduate Bette Skewis-Arnett was hired to be head of costumes; she is now a full profession and chair of the theatre department!

Women took up jobs in factories
during WWII just as they assumed
increased leadership at Morningside.

After WWII, as returning soldiers enrolled in college through the help of the G. I. Bill, the theatre program returned to producing plays that called on the talents of both men and women, including the popular thriller, Kind Lady, by Edward Chodorov.

In addition to crowdpleasers, Morningside was well known for producing a variety of challenging works during the 1950s, including Barry's psychological drama, Hotel Universe, Milay's anti-war, musical Harlequinade Aria da Capo, and Hsiung's contemporary Chinese romance, Lady Precious Stream.

Then as now, the dance program at Morningside offered concerts, as the program from 1957 attests.

From Top To Bottom:
Kind Lady

From Left To Right:
1957

1958

Beginning in the 1960s, student interest in the arts began to grow in colleges across the country. At Morningside, theatre became increasingly viewed as an important part of the liberal arts curriculum, a curriculum designed to build creativity, imaginative power, and analytical ability.

For example, the article on the right, from a March 19, 1961 edition of the Des Moines Register, speaks approvingly of how the theatre and art departments at Morningside are working in consort to provide creative opportunities for students involved in life drawing and acting. Inter-departmental co-operation with music, art, and mass communications is still an important element in the theatre department of today.

Many Moons, 1960

In 1964, after decades of using borrowed and converted spaces, Morningside built Klinger-Neal Theatre, a flexible space that seats 360 people.

With the construction of Klinger-Neal, the college began to offer a full theatre major. New faculty were hired, and courses were added in theatre technology and design.

The first productions in the new theatre were an original opera, Merchant's Moon, by music faculty members Donald and Elizabeth Morrison, and a performance of Jean Anouilh's Antigone.

Klinger-Neal continues to be used for plays, musicals, recitals, ballets, lectures, and classes. Like many theatres, Klinger-Neal is said to be haunted.

From Top To Bottom:
Front and rear view of Klinger-Neal Theatre, built in 1964.

Below, a newspaper photograph of a rehearsal of Merchant's Moon. Click on the photograph for more information about this premiere production of 1964.