2012
E-52 moved into their third office space in the lower level of Perkins
2023
E-52 celebrates its 100 year anniversary
E-52 Timeline
2024
A ramp was added to Bacchus Theater to increase accessibility for all events held in the venue
2019
E-52 Executive Chair position was dissolved and split into Production Coordinator and Social Coordinator
1993
Three alumni students in the theatre department founded City Theater Company in Wilmington
1990
Alumni Relations Chair, Chad Puls, distributes the first official E-52 Alumni Newsletter. Fun Fact included: at least 16 alumni met their spouses during their time in E-52 at this point in history. Also at this point in time, only 4 committees existed: Publicity, Social/Fundraising, Alumni Relations, and Historian!
1992
E-52 Executive Chair position was dissolved and split into Production Coordinator and Social Coordinator
1987
The Social/Fundraising Chair was created. At this time, we would go to Denny's after most rehearsals, which started a running joke about the waiters at Denny's knowing all E-52 alumni. This same year, the undergraduate theater performance major was abolished when the Professional Theatre Training Program (PPTP) made Hartshorn Hall its new home.
1987:
1986
E-52 became an independent student organization open to all majors, was officially renamed to "E-52 Student Theatre," and our original Constitution was written. We had our first office space in a cubicle in Perkins 310. We owned nothing-- no props, costumes, or technical supplies. No longer able to use Mitchell Hall, E-52 began sharing 100 Wolf Hall with HTAC, and a five year "war" began between the two groups that included stealing costumes and lightbulbs before shows started. This is also the year E-52 created the proposal process for members to be in complete control of the shows. Furthermore, this is when today's E-52 logo was created by Denise Stark.
1988
Jack Stergle, Director of Perkins Student Center at the time, let us store props and costumes in the basement. When we needed costumes, we would go to "Jack's Basement." That's why we call our costume closet JAX! Eventually, a flood hit the basement, and we moved our costumes to a storage space on the second floor of Perkins.
1974
Sophomores Bill Berryhill and Robert Higgens founded the Harrington Theater Arts Company, named after the Harrington A dormitory where they resided. HTAC was founded to specifically produce musicals to counter E-52. In 1980, HTAC performed A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in Wolf Hall as their first musical.
1971
E-52 Laboratory Theater became a student group, giving students, rather than faculty, the opportunity to direct, design, and produce shows. The group went on to perform experimental and more intimate shows like The Seagull and Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?
1967
A portrait of Dr. Robert Kase was commissioned by E-52 alumni and hung on the left side of the Mitchell Hall lobby, still there to this day, honoring his commitment to University Theatre.
1966
Historian was the only established committee.
1965
E-52 performed Kiss Me Kate throughout military bases in Europe.
1966
E-52 performed The Boyfriend throughout different military bases in Europe.
1960
E-52's closing performance of Carousel broke all box office records with 925 tickets sold in a single night
1958
The United Service Organizations and American Educational Theater Association selected E-52 and seven other university theater programs to embark on an overseas tour and perform The Tender Trap to soldiers at military bases in Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Guam, and Hawaii. The company consisted of 13 E-52 members. Richard Nixon sent E-52 a thank you letter for our participation
1954
Judith Kase wrote her original script of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and toured around the east coast for children's theatre
1952
The organization was renamed to "E-52 Laboratory Theatre"
1951
E-52 produced our first musical, Finian's Rainbow.
1950
E-52 Children's Theater was founded by Elizabeth Kase, and she directed E 52's first children's play, Cinderella.
1946
"The E-52 Players" are renamed to "E-52 University Theatre" with the creation of the new Department of Dramatic Arts and Speech.
1940
Much Ado About Nothing was the first Shakespearian play we produced!
1934
Main Street's Chapel Street Players, originally called the University Drama Group, was founded by Elizabeth Kase.
1930
"The E-52 Players" branched off from the courses and produced their first extracurricular show, Outward Bound. This is credited as our first true production as a theatre group. The program from this show currently hangs in our office.
1923
Assistant Professor Ernest Canfield Van Keuren of the English department began teaching two drama courses, E-51 and E-52. The E-52 class was continued the following semester by Dr. C. Robert Kase. This is where E-52 got its name! For the first seven years, the E-52 classes only produced two plays per year.
1901
The first theatre group on campus was the "Mask and Wig Club" which consisted of the Glee Club, Banjo and Mandolin Club, and College Orchestra.
1873
The first production performed at the UD (then called Delaware College) was Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Rivals, performed in the Oratory of Old College. The school's strict Presbyterian trustees felt concerned that theater would decrease students' morality, so no productions were performed on campus before this year.