On May 17th, Rhodes College announced its plans to phase out its theater major. Katherine Bassard, provost and vice president of academic affairs, wrote in an email to the student body and alumni that “interest in the theater major has dropped significantly over the last several years.” The college has offered to place tenured and tenure-track faculty members in other academic departments or programs, and in the upcoming years, it plans to offer curricular and co-curricular opportunities in the performing arts, in lieu of a theater major.
But many mourn the loss of the department that has earned numerous Ostrander Awards. “The McCoy Theatre is a special place to many,” says Katie Marburger, who graduated in 2014 with a bachelor’s in theater. Marburger heard the news before Rhodes announced its decision to the public, and she started a Facebook group called Save the McCoy Theatre. “I couldn’t stand back,” she says. “If I could do something, I was going to try.” Her plan is to organize a letter-writing campaign to express why the theater department is necessary not only for theater majors and minors, but also for the college as a whole. “The decision doesn’t just affect majors and minors; it affects non-majors. And it’s not just about the Rhodes theater community; it’s about the Memphis community.”
Within a few days, the group has accrued nearly 500 members, including current students, alumni, and friends of the McCoy Theatre, all of whom express a deep sadness about the news. “There are a lot of people who wouldn’t have come to Rhodes if there was no theater department,” Marburger says, “not just people who intended to major in theater like myself, but also people who wanted to major in something else and still participate in theater.”
In fact, rising senior Annalee McConnell intended to major in English and pursue theater as an extracurricular when she came to Rhodes. “Since I did theater in high school, but was not sure if I wanted to major, I loved the fact that the Rhodes theater department was accessible to non-majors,” she says. But after becoming involved in the department her first year, she decided to double major in English and theater. “I felt so supported by the theater professors and staff and knew I wanted to learn as much as I could from them before graduating,” she says.
A week before Rhodes announced its plans to phase out the department, McConnell met with administration to create an individualized plan to ensure that she could complete her major. She says that she appreciates the personal and sympathetic support she’s received from the school, but she is still crushed and surprised by the news.
This most recent semester, McConnell participated in a theater class which culminated in a research project called “Proposals for the Future of Our Theatre.” “To spend so much time researching shows and planning for future seasons at the McCoy just to learn that the program was dissolving not even a week after our presentation left me feeling very discouraged,” she says, “especially since it seemed like the voices of those of us in the department were not being heard.”
Likewise, rising junior Eliana Mabe says that she feels unsupported as a student. “From a student’s perspective,” she says, “it does not feel like they have been clear and direct and willing to help.” Mabe is uncertain whether she will be able to finish her major, since Rhodes will stop offering theater classes after this fall; at this point, she has been told that she will only be able to minor in theater. “Before this decision, I was on the track to be a B.S. in biochemistry and a B.A. in theater, which is the prime example of the beauty of a liberal arts education.”
Upon enrollment at Rhodes, Mabe had planned on pursuing the sciences, but after becoming involved in the theater department, she now plans to attend graduate school for playwriting. In fact, her plays have already been featured in local festivals, and when she’s in those settings, she says, “I feel like I’m an ambassador for Rhodes.” But with Rhodes’ recent decision, she now hesitates to take the same pride in Rhodes at those events as she did before, and she now says, “I feel like I’ve been ill-prepared for graduate school.” She’s reached out to administration about her concerns but has yet to hear back from anyone since her first meeting when she found out about the decision. “I feel very privileged to be able to attend a college like Rhodes, and I want to continue reaping the benefits it has to offer,” Mabe says, “but I need the support of my peers, past alumni, and faculty to continue pursuing my future playwriting career.”
Mabe continues, “This choice [to eliminate the theater department] is perpetuating the stereotype that theater isn’t real work, that it’s just an extracurricular, that it doesn’t deserve to be seen in academic light, which it does.”
“Theater is not just about acting or putting on shows; it’s about fueling empathy, human connection, and creative innovation,” McConnell says. “My time in the Rhodes theater department has shown me all of these nuances and more and in the process has made me a more well-rounded and confident person both socially and professionally.”
Similarly, Marburger points to the theater department as being instrumental in developing her critical-thinking, analytical, and problem-solving skills as well as her ability to have a dialogue with anyone she meets. “[Theater is] about storytelling and exploring humanity, being able to ask questions,” she says.
Mabe agrees, saying that through the theater department, she has learned that storytelling is an everyday experience. “Sometimes to understand a concept in my biochemistry classes, I have to create a story,” she says, “and that’s an innate human thing.”
“As one of my professors Dr. Dave Mason once said in class, everyone is performing every day of their lives,” she continues, “and when he said that, it really changed my perspective on moving forward as a genuine, good person. As you go through different experiences, how you behave and how you go forth to make good in this world all boils down to this idea of performance, and failing to include that [lesson in Rhodes’ curriculum] is not only a wrong-doing to the mission of the college but is also an error and a flaw that future students didn’t ask for.”
Additionally, as recently-graduated theater major Olivia Fox points out, “Rhodes has always been a supplier of vital community members in the Memphis theater scene. Within the past five years that I have witnessed, there have been prominent actors and directors who have graduated from Rhodes and stayed in Memphis because of the connections they made here.” She also says that the McCoy Theatre has participated in multiple outreach programs in collaboration with places like Central High School and Crosstown Arts. “Since there are no more theater classes,” she says, “these programs will [likely] no longer happen.” It’s also unclear what will happen to student workers in the theater department — whether they will be placed in another department or whether they will lose their position as a student worker altogether.
Despite their disappointment, McConnell and Mabe, as president and vice-president of the Rhodes Theatre Guild, have hope that their student-run organization can “[uphold] the legacy of performing arts that the McCoy Theatre has expertly built over the years,” McConnell says. Since 2016, the group has provided supplementary theatrical opportunities, often student-written and student-directed, without the financial support of the academic department, but members could still go to professors for advice and guidance and utilize the departmental supplies and workers for building sets and making costumes. However, now that the organization will be providing the only theatrical opportunities without the support of an academic department, the productions will likely face limitations in the creative process and execution, especially in student-led shows since, as McConnell says, “none of us have the same experience or training of professionals.”
Bassard, in her email, wrote that Rhodes is “working to create an environment where our students have access to rich theater and performing arts experiences on campus and in the Memphis community,” but at the moment, it is reimagining and identifying what this may look like going forward. Even with this statement, many students, alumni, and supporters of the McCoy are worried about the future of the performing arts at the college.
“It’s kind of an open-ended promise at this point,” Mabe says. “However, the responsibility of trying to find other mentors, of reaching out to the community, of reaching out to alumni — that burden should not be placed on the students.”
Fox, who preceded McConnell as president of the Rhodes Theatre Guild, adds, “On top of this, putting all of the burden on students to now do all of the work themselves with no credits is a lot of pressure. Not to mention without classes, it is expected of the students to teach skills of acting and designing to one another.”
McConnell and Mabe have reached out to the Save the McCoy Theatre group, asking for mentors, directors, designers, or producers to help with future productions. So far, the two have received a plethora of texts and emails from alumni inside and outside of the Memphis area who are willing to offer their support. “These are people who, according to what we’ve been promised, will be paid through Rhodes for their work,” Mabe says.
“With the help of the institution to fund us and provide professional mentors from the community who can supplement the educational loss from not having an academic department,” McConnell adds, “I have high hopes that we will provide a space of education and creative growth for everyone on campus who loves theater.”