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We're excited to present another diverse season of works selected to provide students with a variety of experiences and creative challenges in performance, choreography, and design—and to offer our audiences the finest in live theatre and dance. The students, staff, and faculty of the Department of Drama/Dance at The University of Montana invite you to join us throughout this production season. We appreciate your generous support of live theatre and dance at UM!
Talent Scholarship Recipients
Many of our students have great financial need. Your tax-deductible contributions help ensure that talented students receive the economic support essential to their training and continued growth in the competitive world of the performing arts. We greatly appreciate the ongoing commitment of our longtime donors; please consider joining them by contributing to the talent scholarship fund.
A Little UM Theatre History
Plays at The University of Montana were apparently first presented at the Bennet Opera House in downtown Missoula in 1898 and later at other downtown theatres. Soon after the turn of the century, the large lecture hall in Main Hall was used for plays; it was further modified for that purpose in 1920. In 1925 a World War I "temporary" building behind Main Hall was converted into the Simpkins Little Theatre. In 1935 the Fine Arts Building opened and plays were presented in what is now called the University Theatre. But the building was not designed for drama's needs, and in 1947 drama returned to Simpkins.
In 1953 the School of Fine Arts was formed and the Fine Arts Building became home for the departments of art, drama, and ballet. It remained the primary performance home for drama and dance for over 25 years. As the theatre program grew, additional space became essential. In November 1957 the old bookstore on the ground floor of the Fine Arts Building became the Masquer Theatre to provide a home for student productions and for the Masquer Summer Theatre. By 1976, a third space had become necessary and the basement of the Venture Center was converted to the unofficially named Silverfish Theatre. It was closed in 1978 and the Main Hall lecture room was once again converted into a theatre, the Great Western Stage. This was used for both mainstage and student productions until the spring of 1984.
In 1981 the Masquer Summer Theatre moved into a tent in downtown Missoula to become the highly successful Riverfront Summer Theatre. 1985 saw the final use of the "old" Masquer Theatre, when the drama/dance and radio/TV programs moved into the new Performing Arts and Radio/Television Center. The new proscenium theatre was named the Montana Theatre and the Masquer Theatre name was retained for the new multiform theatre. The main dance studio, designed to accommodate performances, was named The Open Space.
Learn more about UM Theatre & Dance by visiting our home page at
The University of Montana School of Fine Arts website.
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