Comments and recollections of William Morris Hunt II ’36
In 1895, the English Department constructed in Sanders the first Elizabethan stage in The United States. The set, which was based on original plans for London’s Fortune Theatre, was first used for a production of Ben Johnson’s The Silent Women. The forward projected stage was surrounded by audience on three sides, imaginative staging alternatives to the traditional proscenium stages of the day.
In 1908 Maude Adams, for whom James Barrie created the role of Peter Pan, performed on Sanders’ Elizabethan stage the role of Viola in Twelfth Night. In 1916, Sir Johnston Forbes Robinson, the great Shakespearan actor, chose Sanders for his farewell performance of Hamlet.
After the Second World War, Jerome Kilty and Albert Marre, who brought national attention to productions at the Brattle Theatre, staged acclaimed productions of Henry IV and St. Joan at Sanders.
During the 1950’s, The Poet’s Theatre presented many of the most illustrious English-speaking poets and authors, including Dylan Thomas, who gave his first public reading of Under Milkwood at Sanders. Robert Penn Warren was sitting in the front row of the theatre to witness the first staged reading of his new play, Brothers to Dragons.
In 1956, with the support of Archibald Macleish, Elliot Richardson, Mark DeWolfe Howe and Professor Harry Levin, The Cambridge Drama Festival presented three highly acclaimed productions: Henry V, directed by Douglas Seale of London’s Old Vic; The Beggar’s Opera with Shirley Jones; and Saint Joan starring the Irish actress Siobhan McKenna whose performance was proclaimed by Elliot Norton to be the finest portrayal of the role in memory. St. Joan moved to Broadway and Siobhan McKenna commanded the covers of Time, Saturday Review and Theatre Arts in one month.
The Cambridge Drama festival also presented, in Sanders, Sir John Gielgud after not having appeared in the United States for eight years; the introduction of Marcel Marceau to American audiences; Treateau De Paris; and Piccolo Teatro Milano with the great clown, Moretti.
William Morris Hunt II ’36 was a member of the Harvard Dramatic Club and the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, a founding member of the Poets Theatre, and the founder of Cambridge Drama Festival and The Elliot Norton Awards.