July 17, 1994

“Hey Kids, Let’s Put On a Show,” an article by Patricia Volk in The New York Times, told the story of the 10 years’ summer collaboration between the college and New York Stage and Film, a theatre group located in New York City. “The Vassar campus,” Volk observed, “looks as if someone waved a wand and said, ‘I’ll take one of everything.’ The architecture goes from Renwick to Gothic to Pelli. Still, by New York standards, it’s bucolic. A John Patrick Shanley play runs 10 minutes longer here because everyone is relaxed. Eventually, people adapt to birdies and falling asleep without car alarm blasts. Most live simply in the dorms. Sometimes they nest. Ron Rifkin put in a wine cellar. Mr. Shanley likes to decorate.”

Recounting Vassar history for Volk, Dixie Massad Sheridan ’65, vice-president for college relations, observed that the college and theater dated back to 1925 and that T. S. Eliot’s Sweeney Agonistes had its premiere at Vassar in 1933. “The making of theater,” Sheridan said, “is educational. It requires constant problem solving. It feeds the mind and soul. And it’s good publicity for Vassar, too.” Actor-director Mark Linn-Baker, just turned 40, was also in a reminiscent mood, telling Ms. Volk, “Ten years ago, we were the young voices and now we’re not. Now people come back with their children. We talk about calling it New York Stage and Film and Day Care.” The New York Times