The first reference to theater at Wabash College dates back to 1836 when the faculty of the college passed the following rule:

Faculty met and took into consideration the subject of Thespian amusements and unanimously resolved that no student who enlists in Thespian exhibitions can longer be a member of this Institution; and that we strongly disapprove of attendance on such exhibitions; and students who attend will be liable to a public admonition, and if they persist, to dismission.

Wabash student John B. Powers was suspended from classes on January 16, 1837 for violating the rule. It seems Powers was committed to perform in a theatrical exhibition of the "Thespian Society" in December 1836, before the rule was passed. Later, the faculty decided that the penalty was perhaps too severe in light of the offender's previous obligation to perform and his ignorance of the rule, so they were content to settle for a reading before the college of an admission of violation of college law.

In the Wabash College academic catalogue of 1852-53 dancing was equated with other "vices":

The discipline of the Institution is moral and parental. It seeks the greatest good of the greatest number; hence no young man who indulges in card playing, dancing, intemperance, or other vice, or who habitually neglects his studies, will be allowed to remain.

This statement was altered in 1868-69, changing "dancing" to "profanity." By the late 1860's the prejudices against drama had somewhat dissipated. Students were permitted to perform in plays and many of these productions included performances by local citizens of Crawfordsville. Although it is obvious that Wabash men participated in plays, dramatic readings, and other Thespian amusements, these exhibitions were apparently not encouraged by the college until the early twentieth century.

In 1908, about 100 feet south of South Hall (near what is now the front patio of Martindale Hall), production of a series of ancient Greek tragedies commenced with a performance of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. These performances continued annually until 1915 under the direction of Professor Daniel Dickey Hains (1873-1937), then Head of the Department of Greek. The productions had elaborate sets, costumes, and programs and were performed by Wabash men in English in the middle of June between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. They enjoyed, in the words of The Wabash, "an almost country-wide reputation, pronounced by competent judges to be the equal of any of the Greek dramas ever presented at Harvard." Lulu Britton Hains (1873-1945), wife of Professor Hains, created and constructed the costumes for the productions and members of the Glee Club performed in the choruses. Women's roles were always played by men and at least two of the productions toured Indiana advertised as the first Greek plays performed in the state.
The Greek plays performed over the years were:

1908 Oedipus Rex (Sophocles)
1909 Antigone (Sophocles)
1910 Alcestis (Euripides)
1911 Iphigenia Among the Taurians (Euripides)
1912 Electra (Sophocles)
1913 Medea (Euripides)
1914 Oedipus Rex (Sophocles)
1915 Hippolytus (Euripides)

The College Dramatic Society was started in 1908 by Professor Lucian Cary (1886-1971) of the English Department. Their first production was George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man, performed in the spring of 1909.

The Wabash Players began presenting plays in various locales around campus and in Crawfordsville beginning in 1916. Productions were given in the Strand Theater, the Masonic Temple, and in a space called the "Little Theater" on the first floor of Peck Hall. The following is a list of the productions of the Wabash Players:

1916 Pigeon (Galsworthy)
Director: D. D. Hains
The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare)
Director: D. D. Hains and Prof. Miller (with an all-male cast)

1917 The Glittering Gate (Dunsany)
Director:
The Lost Silk Hat (Dunsany)
Director:

1918 Dormant --probably because of World War I

1919-20 Death: A Discussion ( ? )
Director:
The Grey Overcoat ( ? )
Director:
Food ( ? )
Director:
Justice (Galworthy)
Director: Mr. Crafton

1920-21 A Night at the Inn (Dunsany)
Director:
The Rising of the Moon (Lady Gregory)
Director:
The Will (Barrie)
Director:
The Importance of Being Earnest (Wilde)
Director: George V. Kendall

1921-22 Free Speech (Prosser)
Director: James I. Osborne
Lima Beans (Kreynborg)
Director: Ray A. Porter
In the Zone (O'Neill)
Director: George V. Kendall

1922-23 Three Live Ghosts (Isham, Marcin)
Director: George V. Kendall and James Insley Osborne

The name "Scarlet Masque" first appears on programs for plays at Wabash College during 1923-24 and remained until 1976, with brief lapses, as the designation of co-curricular theater productions at the college. In 1955, the Scarlet Masque initiated its first pledge class in Alpha Psi Omega, the National Theater Fraternity, under the supervision of theater director Charles Scott (b. 1928) and Professor Donald W. Baker (b. 1923) of the English Department, who directed and acted in numerous productions throughout the 1950's and 1960's. During these years the Scarlet Masque performed in a wide variety of locations including the Great Hall of Sparks Center, the Masonic Temple, a train car barn in Crawfordsville, under a tent in various locations, etc. Productions of plays under the Scarlet Masque banner at Wabash College were as follows:


1923-24 From Midnight On (Kaiser)
Director: J. Allen Saunders

1924-25 Treasure Island (Stevenson)
Director: J. Allen Saunders
White Elephant (Nicholson)
Director: R.E. Banta
The Hand of Siva (Goodman, Hecht)
Director: R.P. Tinkham
Action (Hudson)
Director: DeWitt O'Kieffe

1925-26 Merton of the Movies (Kaufman, Connelly)
Directors: J. Allen Saunders, George V. Kendall
The Sequel (Wilde)
Director:
The Brink of Silence (Galbraith)
Director:
In the Net (P. Wilde)
Director:

1926-27 To the Ladies (Kaufman, Connelly)
Director: William Howard
The Rear Car (Rose)
Director:

1927-28 Three Wise Fools (Strong)
Director: Paul Carver
In the Next Room (Robson, Ford)
Director: Stephen J. Alexander
Tommy (Lindsey, Robinson)
Director: Stephen J. Alexander

1928-29 Give and Take (Hoffman)
Director: Eugene Goodbar
Officer 666 (MacHugh)
Director: Stephen Alexander
Fast Workers (Oliver)
Director: Stephen Alexander

1929-30 Haunted House (Davis)
Director: Stephen Alexander
Three Live Ghosts (Isham, Marcin)
Director: Byron Manson

1930-31 The Queen's Husband (Sherwood)
Director: Byron Manson
The Servant in the House (Kennedy)
Director:

1931-32 Adam's Apple (Dalton)
Director: George V. Kendall
The Nut Farm (Brownell)
Director: George V. Kendall

1932-33 The Drunkard; or, The Fallen Saved (Anonymous)
Director: Myron Phillips (This play was given for
the Wabash College centennial celebration.)
The Front Page (Hecht, MacArthur)
Director:

1933-34 The Dover Road (Milne)
Directors: Myron Phillips and George V. Kendall
Three Taps at Twelve (Saunders)
Directors: Myron Phillips and George V. Kendall (This production was presented at the Civic Theatre in Indianapolis under the auspices of the Indianapolis Wabash Alumni Association. The Scarlet Masque Dramatic Club's first Indianapolis production.)
The Last Mile (Wexley)
Director: Myron Phillips and George V. Kendall

1934-35 Seven Keys to Baldpate (Cohan)
Director: George V. Kendall
Both Your House (Anderson)
Director: George V. Kendall

1935-36 Accent on Youth (Raphaelson)
Director: Myron Phillips and M. J. Bartoo
Journey's End (Sheriff)
Director: George V. Kendall, assisted by M. J. Bartoo

1936-37 Libel (Wooll)
Directors: Myron Phillips and M. J. Bartoo

1937-38 Playboy of the Western World (Synge)
Director: George V. Kendall

1938-39 Julius Caesar (Shakespeare)
Director: George V. Kendall, assisted by Myron
Phillips
No More Peace (Toller)
Director: Myron Phillips

1939-40 Brother Rat (Finklehoffe, Monks)
Director: John D. Coons

1940-41 Dust in the Road (Goodman)
Director:
The Game of Chess (Goodman)
Director:
Margin for Error (Booth)
Directors: Edward C. Gullion, Howard H. Vogel

1941-42 A Christmas Carol (Dickens)
Director: Howard H. Vogel, assisted by Myron Phillips
(This production was performed jointly with the Glee Club.)
His Honor, The Mayor (Wells)
Director:
The Male Animal (Thurber, Nugent)
Director: Myron Phillips, assisted by Howard H. Vogel

1942-46 Dormant --most college activities were interrupted during World War II

1946-47 Ten Little Indians (Christie)
Director: Myron Phillips

1947-48 The Male Animal (Thurber, Nugent)
Director: Myron Phillips

1948-49 The Time of Your Life (Saroyan)
Director: Myron Phillips
Heartbreak House (Shaw)
Director: Myron Phillips, assisted by Charles Scott

1949-50 The Front Page (Hecht, MacArthur)
Director: Myron Phillips, assisted by Charles Scott
Outward Bound (Vane)
Director: Doris Roller
ONE-ACT PLAYS: 
Mind Over Matter (Starkey)
Director: Doris Roller
Subway Circus (Saroyan)
Director: William K. Clark
We Were Dancing (Coward)
Director: Charles Scott (These three
playswere reported by The Wabash as having
been the first plays to be staged in-the-round
in Indiana.)

1950-51 Three Men on a Horse (Holm, Abbott)
Director: Charles Scott
Detective Story (Kingsley)
Director: Charles Scott
ONE-ACT PLAYS: 
All the King's Elephants (Aikens)
Directors: Charles Scott, Doris Roller
A Night in the Inn (Dunsany)
Directors: Charles Scott, Doris Roller
Shall We Join the Ladies? (Barrie)
Director: Charles Scott, Doris Roller

1951-52 Light Up the Sky (Hart)
Director: Melvin White, assisted by Bob Reinke
ONE-ACT PLAYS: 
Dust of the Road (Goodman)
Director: Mike Gray
The Happy Journey (Wilder)
Director: Ray Meuer
The Pot Boiler (Gerstenberg)
Director: Bob McCord
Home of the Brave (Laurents)
Directors: William Clark, Tom Shenk
ONE-ACT PLAYS: 
Home is the Hunter (Aikens)
Director: William Clark
The Still Alarm (Kaufman)
Director: Mike Gray
If Men Played Cards As Women Do (Kaufman)
Director: William Clark

1952-53 Mister Roberts (Heggen, Logan)
Director: S. Ross Beharriel, assisted by Don Allen
(The Wabash College production of Mister Roberts was the first college production to be licensed anywhere.)
Room Service (Murray, Boretz)
Director: S. Ross Beharriel, assisted by Mike Gray
The Second Shepherd's Play (anonymous)
Director: Larsh Rothert
ONE-ACT PLAYS: 
Souls and Heels (Kellogg)
Director: Jack Kellogg
Balcony Scene (Kellogg)
Director: Dave Noll
Alma Mater (Kellogg)
Director: Larry Flink

1953-54 Yesterday Was Summer (Aikens)
Director: S. Ross Beharriel
Pinocchio (Lorenzini)
Director: Ernest Scott
(This production was presented by the Girl Scouts of Montgomery County)
Stalag 17 (Bevan, Trzcinski)
Director: S. Ross Beharriel, assisted by Dick Havel (Assistant Professor of English Donald W. Baker presided over an awards dinner for the Scarlet Masque held at the Crawford Hotel on April 21,
1954. Clarence Derwent, well-known Broadway actor, director, and President of the Actors' Equity Association, appeared as guest speaker. Professor Fergus Ormes of the Economics Department performed Robert Benchley's The Treasurer's Report" in a program immediately following the dinner.)

1954-55 The Doctor in Spite of Himself (Moliere)
Director: Donald W. Baker, assisted by Larry Fink
Of Mice and Men (Steinbeck)
Director: Gar Aikens, assisted by John Toth (New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson saw the Wabash College production of Of Mice and Men while on a visit to campus, and sent a telegram to the Scarlet Masque stating that he "Enjoyed Of Mice and Men tremendously last night regret motto of my newspaper precludes review.")
ONE-ACT PLAYS: 
Dress Reversal (Gerber)
Director: Joe Spurgeon
The Genius (Foo-Hsi)
Director: Darrell Lance
The Valiant (Hall, Middlemass)
Director: John Toth
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (Wouk)
Director: Donald W. Baker)
(This was the first amateur performance of the play.)
John Brown's Body (Benet)
Director: Ernest Scott
Director of Chorus: Robert Mitchum

1955-56 The Menaechmi (Plautus)
Director: Charles Scott
Dr. Faustus (Marlowe)
Director: Donald W. Baker
ONE-ACT PLAYS: 
The Other Side of the Mirror (Jones)
Director: John Toth
The Turn Coat (Flink)
Director: Charles Scott
The Idea (Havel)
Director: Dick Havel
The Play's the Thing (Molnar, adapted by Wodehouse)
Director: Charles Scott
An Evening of Readings and Skits by Noel Coward
Director: Larry Fink

1956-57 The Drunkard (Anonymous)
Director: John Toth
Macbeth (Shakespeare)
Director: Donald W. Baker, assisted by John Toth
Boy With a Cart (Fry)
Director: Charles Scott
ONE-ACT PLAYS: 
Hell on Earth (Havel)
Director: Dick Havel
Wakehurst (Wampler)
Director: Fred Wampler
Refusal (Pence)
Director: John Toth
Teahouse of the August Moon (Patrick)
Director: Charles Scott

1957-58 Dial M for Murder (Knott)
Directors: William Morgan, Dan Millar
Murder in the Cathedral (Eliot)
Director: Charles Scott
The Misanthrope (Molière)
Director: Donald W. Baker
Shadow of a Gunman (O'Casey)
Director: Donald W. Baker
Julius Caesar (Shakespeare, edited and abridged by
James D. Hostetter and Donald W. Baker)
Director: James D. Hostetter

1958-59 Twelve Angry Men (Rose)
Director: James D. Hostetter, assisted by Dan Millar
Henry IV, Part 1 (Shakespeare)
Director: Donald W. Baker and James D. Hostetter
My Sister Eileen (Chodorov, Fields)
Director: James Hostetter
(My Sister Eileen was a combined effort of the Scarlet Masque and the Crawfordsville Dramatic Society.)
ONE-ACT PLAYS: 
Pariah (Wilson)
Director:
Eno-Ectad (Greene)
Director:
Ambergris (MacPherson)
Director:
ONE-ACT PLAYS:
Swan Song (Chekhov)
Director: Dave Bechtold
A Marriage Proposal (Chekhov)
Director: Tom Schmunk
The Celebration (Chekhov)
Director: Bob Russell

1959-60 The Rainmaker (Nash)
Director: Myron Phillips
The Imaginary Invalid (Moliere)
Director: Donald W. Baker
A Streetcar Named Desire (Williams)
Director: Thom Schmunk
Henry IV (Pirandello)
Director: Thom Schmunk
(The Scarlet Masque production of Henry IV was the first American production of the translation by Eric Bentley.)
Bell, Book and Candle (Van Druten)
Director: Thom Schmunk

1960-61 The Skin of Our Teeth (Wilder)
Director: Charles Scott
Othello (Shakespeare)
Director: Charles Scott
Death of a Salesman (Miller)
Director: Charles Scott
The Importance of Being Earnest (Wilde)
Director: Charles Scott

1961-62 The Crucible (Miller)
Director: Charles Scott
Guys and Dolls (Swerling, Burrows, Loesser)
Director: Charles Scott, assisted by Dave Stapleton,
John Duran
Volpone (Jonson)
Director: Charles Scott
The Fantasticks (Jones, Schmidt)
Director: Charles Scott

1962-63 Oedipus the King (Sophocles, in a new translation by
Kenneth Cavander)
Director: Charles Scott
Uncle Vanya (Chekhov)
Director: Charles Scott
She Stoops to Conquer (Goldsmith)
Director: Charles Scott
ONE-ACT PLAYS: 
The New Tenant (Ionesco)
Director: Curt Burkhart
The Lesson (Ionesco)
Director: Walter Stasey
The Bald Soprano (Ionesco)
Director: Charles Scott

1963-64 ONE-ACT PLAYS: 
Hello Out There (Saroyan)
Director: Charles Scott
The Intruder (Maeterlinck)
Director: Charles Scott
Aria da Capo (Millay)
Director: Charles Scott
The Miser (Moliere)
Director: Charles Scott
J.B. (MacLeish)
Director: Charles Scott
Leave It to Jane (Kern, Bolton, Wodehouse)
Director: Charles Scott

1964-65 The Birthday Party (Pinter)
Director: George P. Tuttle
Six Characters in Search of an Author (Pirandello)
Director:
Tiger at the Gates (Giraudoux)
Director: George P. Tuttle
The Inspector General (Gogol)
Director:

1965-66 Two Gentlemen of Verona (Shakespeare)
Director: Donald W. Baker (This production was staged in celebration of Shakespeare's 400th birthday.)
Casina (Plautus)
Director:
ONE-ACT PLAYS: 
The Second Shepherd's Play (anonymous)
Director:
Poison, Passion and Petrification (anonymous)
Director:
The Music Man (Willson)
Director: George P. Tuttle

1966-67 Thieves Carnival (Anouilh)
Director: Robert Clymire
Ghosts (Ibsen)
Director:
(Ghosts was the first production of an Ibsen play at Wabash College.)
ONE-ACT PLAYS: 
Me, Myself and I (Clymire)
Director: LeRoy Stoner
The Lopsided Sword of Cyrano (Clymire)
Director: LeRoy Stoner
The Parable of the Saddle Makers (Clymire)
Director: LeRoy Stoner
A Man For All Seasons (Bolt)
Director: Robert Clymire, assisted by Jim Baker

1967-68 Catch Me If You Can (McGerr)
Director: Robert Clymire, assisted by Jerry Rawson
Slow Dance on the Killing Ground (Hanley)
Directors: Robert Clymire, Mike Regnier
Hamlet (Shakespeare)
Director: Robert Clymire, assisted by Rob Pock lington
Waiting for Godot (Beckett)
Directors: Robert Clymire, Mike Regnier (A new translation, by Professor Richard Strawn, was used for this production.)
Of Thee I Sing! (Gershwin, Kaufman, Ryskind)
Director: Robert Clymire

1968-69 Arms and the Man (Shaw)
Director: Robert Clymire, assisted by Kirt Baker
Look Back in Anger (Osborne)
Director: Robert Clymire, assisted by James Paul
Lincoln Killed Kennedy (Clymire)
Director: Robert Clymire
A Thousand Clowns (Gardner)
Director: Le Roy Stoner, assisted by Rich Brown
The Visit (Duerrenmatt)
Director: Robert Clymire, assisted by Jim Rogers

1969-70 South Pacific (Rodgers, Hammerstein, Logan)
Director: Robert Clymire
Mother Courage and Her Children (Brecht)
Director: Robert Clymire, assisted by Jerry Rawson
Of Mice and Men (Steinbeck)
Director: Robert Clymire
The Misanthrope (Moliere)
Director: Le Roy Stoner, assisted by Irene Mitch- ell
Henry IV, Part 2 (Shakespeare)
Director: Robert Clymire, assisted by Don McMill an, Jr.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Albee)
Director: Mike Henry
Spoon River Anthology (Masters)
Director Bud Jones

1970-71 The Skin of Our Teeth (Wilder)
Director: Terrence Ortwein, assisted by Bob Olson
Ceremonies in Dark Old Men (Elder)
Director: Geoffrey Newman
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Stoppard)
Director: Bob Olson, assisted by Gary Parks
Angel Street (Hamilton)
Director: Terrence Ortwein, assisted by Larry Jones
The Importance of Being Earnest (Wilde)
Director: Geoffrey Newman, assisted by Keith Nelson
The Glass Menagerie (Williams)
Directors: Terrence Ortwein, Bruce Ferry
Canterbury Tales (Hill, Hawkins, Coghill)
Director: Geoffrey Newman, assisted by Bob Olson

1971-72 Spoon River Anthology (Masters)
Director: Terrence Ortwein
The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail (Lawrence, Lee)
Director: Terrence Ortwein and Daniel Deter, assisted by Michael Degitz
Death of a Salesman (Miller)
Director: Geoffrey Newman, assisted by Max Custer
The Bacchae (Euripides)
Director: Geoffrey Newman, assisted by John Fischer, Terry Coffinbarger
The Fantastiks (Jones, Schmidt)
Director: Geoffrey Newman, assisted by Terry Coffinbarger (This production made a brief tour
throughout Montgomery County.)
Tartuffe (Molière)
Director: Terrence Ortwein, assisted by Tom Bleau

1972-73 Under Milkwood (Thomas)
Director: Terrence Ortwein, assisted by Sam Smith
Adaptations (May)
Director: Tom Bleau, assisted by Mike Machatton
The Lion in Winter (Goldman)
Director: Geoffrey Newman, assisted by Steve Miller
Major Barbara (Shaw)
Director: Terrence Ortwein, assisted by Steve Kiefer
Echoes (Nash)
Director: Tim Carroll, assisted by Larry Dick
Cabaret (Kander, Ebb)
Director: Geoffrey Newman

1973-74 The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare)
Director: Geoffrey Newman, assisted by Jim Tinsley
Fortune and Men's Eyes (Eyen)
Director: Terrence Ortwein
The Star-Spangled Girl (Simon)
Director:
ONE-ACT PLAYS: 
The Sandbox (Albee)
Director: Terrence Ortwein
A Slight Ache (Pinter)
Director: Terrence Ortwein
Act Without Words II (Beckett)
Director: Terrence Ortwein
The Me Nobody Knows (Friedman, Holt)
Director: Geoffrey Newman, assisted by R. Toby
Scott

1974-75 The Rainmaker (Nash)
Director: Peter Wright, assisted by Jim Tinsley
Tragedy of Tragedies: The Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great (Fielding)
Director: Terrence Ortwein
Woyzeck (Büchner)
Director: Peter Wright
Who's Happy Now? (Tinsley)
Director:
A Flea in Her Ear (Feydeau)
Director: Terrence Ortwein

1975-76 The Rimers of Eldritch (Wilson)
Director: Terrence Ortwein
Eccentricities of a Nightingale (Williams)
Director: Peter Wright
Desire Under the Elms (O'Neill)
Director: Peter Wright
Hughie (O'Neill)
Director:
Prizes (Riggs)
Director:
Guys and Dolls (Swerling, Burrows, Loesser)
Director: Terrence Ortwein

1976-77 Awake and Sing (Odets)
Director: Robert Zyromski
When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder (Medoff)
Director: Peter Wright
I Can't Imagine Tomorrow (Williams)
Director:
Moby Dick-Rehearsed (Welles)
Director: Peter Wright
The Dracula Play (Zyromski)
Director: Robert Zyromski

1977-78 Uncle Vanya (Chekhov)
Director: Peter Wright
Tango (Mrozek)
Director: Robert Zyromski
Playboy of the Western World (Synge)
Director: Peter Wright
Sleuth (Shaffer)
Director: Robert Zyromski

1978-79 A Cry of Players (Gibson)
Director: Peter Wright
The Wager (Medoff)
Director: James Fisher
ONE-ACT PLAYS: 
The Zoo Story (Albee)
Director: John Yast
The Typists (Schisgal)
Director: Virgil Miller
Ile (O'Neill)
Director: Michael Diessler
The Lark (Anouilh)
Director: Peter Wright
The Crimson Bird (Strawn, Enenbach)
Director: James Fisher

1979-80 Mister Roberts (Heggen, Logan)
Director: James Fisher
I Never Sang for My Father (Anderson)
Director: Peter Wright
S.H.Ades (Seward)
Director: Phillip Seward
Rashomon (Kanin)
Director: Peter Wright
The Miser (Molière)
Director: James Fisher

1980-81 Pseudolus (Plautus)
Director: James Fisher
American Buffalo (Mamet)
Director: Peter Wright
Agamemnon (Aeschylus)
Director: James Fisher
Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare)
Director: Peter Wright

1981-82 R.U.R. (Capek)
Director: Dwight Watson
A Moon for the Misbegotten (O'Neill)
Director: James Fisher
ONE-ACT PLAYS: 
Deathwatch (Genet)
Director: Jeffrey Hicks
The Flying Doctor (Molière)
Director: Richard Haffner
The Tempest (Shakespeare)
Director: Dwight Watson
ONE-ACT PLAY: 
The Diary of Adam and Eve (Bock, Harnick)
Director: William Eastridge
The Bogus Bride (Fisher)
Director: James Fisher

1982-83 ONE-ACT PLAYS: 
The Sandbox (Albee)
Director: Benjamin McCormick
The Proposal (Chekhov)
Director: Michael Abbott
Aurelie's Waltz (Schnitzler)
Director: James Fisher
Talley's Folly (Wilson)
Director: Dwight Watson
The Misanthrope (Molière)
Director: Dwight Watson
ONE-ACT PLAYS: 
Tears of a Clown (Whelan)
Director: Michael Whelan
Village Wooing (Shaw)
Director: Daniel Jacoby
ONE-ACT PLAYS: 
Here We Are (Parker)
Director: Michael Abbott
Next (McNally)
Director: Michael Abbott
Krapp's Last Tape (Beckett)
Director: Michael Abbott

1983-84 The Mandrake (Machiavelli)
Director: James Fisher
A Doll's House (Ibsen)
Director: Dwight Watson
The Real Inspector Hound (Stoppard)
Director: Dwight Watson
Galileo (Brecht)
Director: James Fisher

1984-85 The Physicists (Dürrenmatt)
Director: Dwight Watson
The Runner Stumbles (Stitt)
Director: James Fisher
Baby Grand (Cohen)
Director: Dwight Watson (Winning play in the first national Wabash College Theater Playwriting Competition.)
Twelfth Night (Shakespeare)
Directors: James Fisher, Michael Abbott

1985-86 Antigone (Sophocles)
Director: James Fisher
A Streetcar Named Desire (Williams)
Director: Dwight Watson
Jack and Other Tales (Traditional)
Director: Dana Warner Fisher
The Long Voyage Home (O'Neill)
Director: Ronald Miller
Indians (Kopit)
Director: Dwight Watson

1986-87 The Good Woman of Setzuan (Brecht)
Director: Dwight Watson
True West (Shepard)
Director: James Fisher
Eden Creek (Watson)
Director: Dwight Watson
The School for Wives (Molière)
Director: James Fisher
Elbow Rooms (DeVeaux)
Director: Dwight Watson

1987-88 Mrs Warren's Profession (Shaw)
Directors: James Fisher, David Schulz
Fortune and Men's Eyes (Herbert)
Director: Geoffrey Newman
ONE-ACT PLAYS:
The Core of Life (Lorber)
Director: Mark Lorber
Mrs. Dally Has a Lover (Hanley)
Director: David Schulz
Loot (Orton)
Director: Dwight Watson
Runaways (Swados)
Director: Geoffrey Newman

1988-89 Tom Jones (Rogers)
Director: James Fisher
Waiting for Godot (Beckett)
Director: Dwight Watson
ONE ACT PLAY:
The Zoo Story (Albee)
Director: Kaizaad Navroze Kotwal
A Half-Remembered Dream: The Narcissa Whitman Story (Neville)
Director: James Fisher
The Foreigner (Shue)
Director: Dwight Watson

1989-90 Julius Caesar (Shakespeare)
Director: Dwight Watson
Bus Stop (Inge)
Director: James Fisher
ONE-ACT PLAY:
The American Hut (Gica)
Director: John Flak
Dapple Gray (Watson)
Director: Dwight Watson
Holding Talks (Rotimi)
Director: Ola Rotimi

1990-91 Of Mice and Men (Steinbeck)
Director: Dwight Watson
Master Harold. . .and the Boys (Fugard)
Director: Steven Vierk
Marat/Sade (Weiss)
Director: Rob Bundy
Open Eyes (Bogigian)
Director: Simon Bogigian
Biloxi Blues (Simon)
Director: James Fisher

1991-92 Oedipus Rex (Sophocles)
Director: Dwight Watson
Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Fo)
Director: James Fisher
Breaking the Code (Whitemore)
Director: James Fisher
Greater Tuna (Williams, Sears, and Howard)
Director: Dwight Watson

1992-93 Inherit the Wind (Lawrence and Lee)
Director: Dwight Watson
Orphans (Kessler)
Director: Laura Miller
The Frogs (Aristophanes)
Director: Christopher Doerr
Talk Radio (Bogosian)
Director: Steve Denari
The Day Room (De Lillo)
Director: Dwight Watson
The Voice of the Prairie (Olive)
Director: Laura Miller

1993-94 The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare)
Director: Dwight Watson
El Salvador (Lima)
Director: Patrick Beidelman
A Flourish of One-Acts (various)
Director: Dwight Watson and various
The Battle of Shallowford (Simpson)
Director: James Fisher

1994-95 Tartuffe (Molière)
Director: James Fisher
Miss Evers' Boys (Feldshuh)
Director: Dwight Watson
As You Like It (Shakespeare)
Director: Michael Abbott

1995-96 Ah, Wilderness! (O'Neill)
Director: Michael Abbott
Wabash Student One-Acts: Andy (Duarte), By the Pricking of the Thumbs...(Lyons)
Directors: Marco Noyola, Rob Lyons
Glengarry Glen Ross (Mamet)
Director: James Fisher
Scratch (MacLeish)
Director: Dwight Watson

1996-97 Angels in America. Part 1: Millennium Approaches
(Kushner)
Director: James Fisher
Studio One-Acts:
The Visit (Dürrenmatt)
Director: Dwight Watson
Lysistrata (Aristophanes, adapted by Michael Abbott)
Director: Michael Abbott

In 1969, the Fine Arts Department was divided into departments of Art, Music, and Theater. The year before, the production of theater at Wabash had begun in the Humanities Center in two spaces: a 370-seat proscenium theater and a flexible black-box called the Experimental Theater. The newly christened Theater Department evolved from a one-faculty member operation to include the services of a technical director. In the intervening years the department grew to include two full-time faculty, one associated faculty member (in scene design and technical direction), and a costumer. Although no academic credit is granted for performance work, as many as 150 students, along with faculty and staff of the college, and local residents participate in the productions of the Theater Department each year. Students may major or minor in theater at Wabash and many spend a semester or year in diverse off-campus programs at such institutions as the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, London's Drama School, the GLCA New York Arts Program, etc. Many recent graduates have gained entry (and impressive fellowships) to the finest graduate programs in Theater in the country, including the Yale School of Drama, Columbia University, Ohio State University, University of Washington at Seattle, University of Virginia, University of Minnesota, Syracuse University, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, among many others. David Schulz (Class of 1988) was the recipient of the prestigious National Endowment for the Humanities Youth Scholarship, which permitted him the opportunity to research and write, under the guidance of Theater Department chair James Fisher, an article on theatrical designer and theorist Edward Gordon Craig's interest in Hamlet. The article was subsequently published in Theatre Studies.

In recent years, the Theater Department has brought to campus professional artists to work with students on productions. A visiting scenic artist designed A Flea in Her Ear in 1975 and visiting actors and actresses have appeared in productions of The Miser (Barbara Blackledge; 1980), The Bogus Bride (Sara Stuart; 1982), Aurelie's Waltz (John O'Hurley, Sarah Rice, and Tina McKenna; 1983), Mrs Warren's Profession (Amelia Penland; 1987), Bus Stop (Diane Timmerman; 1989), Dapple Gray (Jamie Ritchie Watson and Dana Warner Fisher; 1990), The Merchant of Venice (Daria Martel; 1993), Miss Evers' Boys (Connie Oates; 1994), As You Like It (Teri Clark; 1995), Angels in America. Part 1: Millennium Approaches (Teri Clark; 1996). The Owen Duston Visiting Minority Scholar and Artist program made it possible for the Theater Department to produce a new work by poet and playwright Alexis DeVeaux called Elbow Rooms in 1987. As well, the Duston program supported the one-year return in 1987-88 of Dr. Geoffrey Newman, who had been a member of the Theater Department between 1970 and 1974. In 1990, distinguished Nigerian playwright and director Ola Rotimi worked with the Theater Department for a semester on a Fulbright.

Between 1991 and 1993, significant renovation and additions (for the departments of Music and Art) were made to the Humanities Center Facilities. When construction was completed, the building was rededicated as the Fine Arts Center in October 1993. Honorary degrees were given to individuals in the creative arts area. Wabash College alumnus Thomas V. Feit, who had participated in theater as a student at Wabash (Class of 1962) and was long-time theater teacher at Warren Central High School, Indianapolis, Indiana, was presented with an honorary degree.

Beginning with 1994-95, the Theater Department faculty grew in size from two to three full-time, along with an associated faculty member in scene design, and staff members in costume design and facilities management.

Written and compiled by James Fisher