Shakespeare, The Playmaker
Frederick H. Koch and the Sock and Buskin Society

Performed June 12 & 13, 1916 at the Bankside Theatre on the UND Campus

Shakespeare, The Playmaker was the second of three major pageants written by students of UND and the last directed by Frederick Koch. The production was produced in connection with the 300th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death.
The play centers around the activities that may have inspired Shakespeare's writing of A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest by observing festivities of English peasants awaiting the arrival of Queen Elizabeth I and two indians that have arrived from the Americas.
Shakespeare, The Playmaker was made up of a cast of 300, including students, UND faculty & staff, members of the community and members of the Turtle Mountain Reservation. Some settings and special lighting effects were designed and built for the pageant. The coulee itself was used during the performance as the Queen's royal barge and indian canoes floated to the performance area.
Following the success of A Pageant of the North-West two years earlier, Shakespeare the Playmaker received much media attention from around the country. After the production closed Frederick Koch, Director of the Sock and Buskin Society, was in great demand on the Chataqua speakers circuit.

Posters & Publicity Materials

Image Gallery

Direction of the Masque, Composers of the Masque, Committees of the Masque, Players of the Masque

Return to the Theatre Arts Image Archive- 1910- 1920

Direction of the Masque
Director of the Masque- Professsor Frederick H. Koch
Directors of the Production- Professor John Adams Taylor, Mis Ethel E. Halcrow, Mrs. Marguerite Myrben
Director of the Stage- Miss Nella Kingsbury
Director of Historical Materials- Dr. O. G. Libby
Directors of Music- Professor W. W. Norton, Professor Paolo Conte
Director of Dancing- Miss Esther Pike
Director of Costuming- Mrs. A. G. Leonard
Director of Properties and Stage Settings- Professor A. J. Becker
Director of Lighting- Professor J. Floyd Stevens
General Advisor- Professor Vernon P. Squires

Composers of the Masque

THE MAJOR WRITERS

Mr. Lyle M. Bittinger	Miss Winifred Nelson
Miss Ethel E. Halcrow	Miss Merle Rutherford
Mr. B. Melvin Johnson	Mis Hester Sparling
Miss Catherine M. McCusker	Miss Alberta Taylor

THE MINOR WRITERS

Mr. Oscar A. Bondelid	Miss Winifred Nelson
Mr. Lester S. Chidlaw	Miss Elizabeth V. Kelly

THE POETRY

Mr. Cecil McKay	Mr. B. Melvin Johnson
Mr. John F. Como	Mr. Arthur D. Williams
Miss Beulah Bomstead	Miss Nellie B. Whitcher
Mr. Ewart Dudley	Miss Catherine M. McCusker

THE MUSIC
Mr. Paolo Conte

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Committees of the Masque
EXECUTIVE COMMITTE- Professor O. G. Libby, Chairman

Professor Edward B. Stephenson	Miss Merle Rutherford
Professor Charles E. King	Miss Alberta Taylor
Miss Winifred Nelson	Miss Bertha Brainard

FINANCE COMMITTEE- Mr. J. W. Wilkerson, Chairman

Mr. Thomas E. Whelan	Professor W. G. Bek
Mr. Vernon Sprague

PRODUCTION COMMITTEE- Professor John Adams Taylor, Chairman

Miss Ethel E. Halcrow	Mr. Carl Schmidt
Professor E. C. Griess	Miss Elsie Dahl
Miss Almira Jewett	Mr. Seymour Anderson
Mr. Henry A. Doak	Professor B. J. Spence
Mr. E. A. Daniels

CONSTRUCTION COMMITTEE- Professor A. J. Becker, Chairman

Mr. A. O. Whipple	Professor E. C. Griess
Professor E. F. Chandler	Professor E. B. Stephenson
Professor C. C. Schmidt	Professor L. D. Bristol

COMMITTEE ON LIGHTING- Professor J. Floyd Stevens, Chairman

Professor A. H. Taylor	Mr. Frank A. Stoos
Mr. A. O. Whipple	Mr. Frank W. Burns

COSTUME COMMITTEE- Mrs. A. G. Leonard

Mrs. R. W. Cooley	Miss Violet Eastman
Miss Mary Howe	Miss Ruth Templeton
Miss Kathleen Flynn	Miss Gertrude Healy
Miss Elizabeth Kelly

COMMITTEE ON PROPERTIES- Mrs. Irma E. Poppler, Chairman

Miss Almira Jewett	Mr. Harry Read
Miss Mary McCumber	Mr. Cyril Page
Miss Elsie Rhode	Mr. Porter Talcott
Mr. Duane Sarles

COMMITTEE ON ARRANGEMENTS- Proffesor R. R. Hitchcock, Chairman

Professor H. E. Simpson	Mr. Thomas Whelan
Mr. Roy Myers

PUBLICITY COMMITTEE- Mr. William H. Greenleaf, Chairman

Professor H. R. Brush	Mr. John Rohwedder
Mr. J. E. Coad	Mr. John B. Cooley
Mrs. Irma E. Poppler	Mr. George A. Benson
Mr. Arthur Shaft	Mr. C. W. Graves
Mr. Paul Shorb

MUSIC COMMITTEE- Professor W. W. Norton, Chairman

Professor Paolo Conte	Miss Winifred Nelson
Mr. E. H. Wilcox	Mr. Cuyler Anderson

COMMITTEE ON DANCING- Miss Esther Pike, Chairman

Miss Jessie Grassick	Miss Nell Whitcher
Miss Dora McBride	Miss Florence Nugent

BOOK COMMITTEE- Professor A. J. Ladd, Chairman

Mr. Lyle M. Bittinger	Professor George R. Davies
Miss Catherine M. McCusker	Miss Ethel E. Halcrow

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Players of the Masque

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Loren Liepold, Technical Director
Department of Theatre Arts
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3280 Davis Drive, Chandler Hall; Stop 8136
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