{"id":454,"date":"2020-09-30T16:37:14","date_gmt":"2020-09-30T20:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/theatre-chronology\/?page_id=454"},"modified":"2020-09-30T16:37:15","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T20:37:15","slug":"1844-1859","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/theatre-chronology\/1844-1859\/","title":{"rendered":"1844-1859"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Play: Unknown<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Author:<\/strong> Moliere
Date:<\/strong> July 1844 Commencement
Director: <\/strong>Unknown
Venue: <\/strong>“Study Hall” in Main Building 1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note:<\/strong> “STRATFORD, ONTARlO, Apri1 23, 1875. EDITOR SCHOLASTIC :–Deeming that it would be interesting to many of your readers to take a glance at the names of the “immortal few” who won honors at the “first Commencement\u201d of Notre Dame University, I send you the list, which I found among my ”papers” last week. By way of introduction, I may state that the board of examiners for that year was Revs. E. Sorin, Theodore S. Badin, (proto-sacerdos<\/em> of U. S.), Francis Cointet, and A. Granger. The examination took place the last of July, and the exhibition, etc., was held in the Study Hall. The play was one of Moli\u00e8res, and the music came from South Bend. The only piece the Band could play with any skill was \u201cHome, Sweet Home.\u201d I give these notes from tradition as I did not enter Notre Dame as a “seeker after wisdom\u201d until the October of 1845. Yours, E. B. K.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source:<\/strong> Scholastic 8:32 (1 May 1875), 473. The first commencement at Notre Dame was in 1844, and this un-named Moliere play was part of the commencement exhibition, according to this 1875 source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Play: Procida<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Date:<\/strong> August 1, 1845, Commencement
Director: <\/strong>Unknown
Venue: <\/strong>“Music Saloon” in Main Building 1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note:<\/strong> This may be The Avenger<\/em> or The Moor of Sicily,<\/em> in which Di Procida is the main character, which opened at the Lafayette Theare, NYC, in August 1826. The New-York Mirror, and Ladies’ Literary Gazette<\/em> 4:6, September 2, 1826, 47, surmises that the play is “founded on the same historical facts which gave birth to Mrs. [Felicia] Hemans’s Vespers of Palermo<\/em>.” This could also be John of Procida<\/em> or The Bridals of Messina<\/em> by James Sheridan Knowles (1784-1862), which premiered at Covent Garden, London, in 1840.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source:<\/strong> The review in The Catholic Herald<\/em>, Thursday, August 28, 1845, 275-76 (reprinted in its entirety in Washington Hall at Notre Dame<\/em>, 317-18) does not mention the name of the title of the play for 1845. Also see Washington Hall at Notre Dame<\/em>, 13-16 and fig. 2.1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Play: Henry IV<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Author:<\/strong> William Shakespeare
Director:<\/strong> Father Michael E. Shawe
Date:<\/strong> Commencement 1847<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note:<\/strong> Father Michael E. Shawe (1792-1853), also known as Mr. Shawe, Rev. Mr. Shaw, Rev. St. Michael Shawe, and Rev. E. Shawe, was one of the first stage directors at Notre Dame. He visited Notre Dame from Vincennes in 1843 and 1845 (and indeed was a guest at the 1845 commencement) and joined the faculty for the two years 1846-47 and 1847-48 before moving on to Detroit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source:<\/strong> Brother Gatian’s “Journal,” Feb. 8 1847-Jan. 10, 1849, 1970\/02, 11, Indiana Province Archives Center (IPAC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Play: The Nervous Man<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Author:<\/strong> unknown
Date:<\/strong> 1854?
Director:<\/strong> Unknown
Producing Organization:<\/strong> The Thespian Society
Cast included:<\/strong> N.H. Gillespie as McShane<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Play: Sebastian<\/em> or The Roman Martyr<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Author: <\/strong>T. D. McGee
Date: <\/strong>Commencement 1855
Director: <\/strong>Reverend R. Shortis<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Play: Bourgeois Gentihomme<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Author:<\/strong> Moli\u00e8re
Date:<\/strong>Commencement 1857
Director:<\/strong> Rev. N.H. Gillespie
Producing Organization:<\/strong> The Thespian SocietyCast<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas Brady in the principal role<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Play: Henry IV<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Author:<\/strong> William Shakespeare
Date:<\/strong> Commencement 1858<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cast<\/em>Hotspur: <\/strong>E. A McNally
Prince Hal: <\/strong>James B. Runnion
Falstaff: <\/strong>Jacob Solomans<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Play: Cato<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Author:<\/strong> Joseph Addison [1713]
Date:<\/strong> Commencement 1859<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cast<\/em>Cato: <\/strong>Peter Menard
Syphax: <\/strong>General Lynch<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Source:<\/strong> See “The Thespian Society” (Scholastic<\/em> 9:26, February 26, 1876, 402-3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

last edited by MCP, September 28, 2016<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Play: Unknown Author: MoliereDate: July 1844 CommencementDirector: UnknownVenue: “Study Hall” in Main Building 1 Note: “STRATFORD, ONTARlO, Apri1 23, 1875. EDITOR SCHOLASTIC :–Deeming that it would be interesting to many of your readers to take a glance at the names of the “immortal few” who won honors at the “first Commencement\u201d of Notre Dame University, I send you the list, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3793,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":-1844,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-454","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/theatre-chronology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/theatre-chronology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/theatre-chronology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/theatre-chronology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3793"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/theatre-chronology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/theatre-chronology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":455,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/theatre-chronology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/454\/revisions\/455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/theatre-chronology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}