The American Society for Theatre Research is a nonprofit organization founded in 1956 dedicated to the study and exchange of theatre and performance from all areas of the world, both historical and contemporary. Every Fall ASTR hosts a conference in conjunction with the Theatre Library Association and has affiliations with many other organizations. Twice a year ASTR publishes a scholarly journal, Theatre Survey, which is dedicated to historical and theoretical studies of theatre and performance.
George B. Bryan (1939-1996) was a professor of theatre at the University of Vermont. This collection came to the University of Maryland via a friend of Dr. Bryan's, Dr. Patti Gillespie of the UMD Theatre department. Dr. Bryan was also a former professional actor and the author of many journal articles and books dealing primarily with theatre history. The collection consists of correspondence, research materials, newspaper and magazine clippings, copies of publications, photographs, and an audio tape. Letters signed by Laurence Olivier and Ed Sullivan are included with Bryan's research materials.
Dr. Jackson R. Bryer is a Professor Emeritus of the University of Maryland’s Department of English, who has also worked with the Department of Theatre as an affiliate faculty member and literary advisor. The Jackson R. Bryer interviews collection covers the period from 1990 to 2004; the bulk of the materials date from 1991 to 1993, and 2002 to 2004. The collection consists of recorded interviews of notable figures from the theatre profession. The interviews have been digitized and can be viewed or listened to by clicking on the item you want in the finding aid.
Series 1: Audiocassette Interviews, 1990-2004, no date (twenty-one items)
Series 2: Videocassette Interviews, 1992, no date (six items)
Dr. Patti P. Gillespie was born c. 1938 and was the co-author of The Enjoyment of Theatre, which, in 2010, entered its eighth printing. As a professor, she taught courses on the history of theatre and drama, theatre criticism, theatre education, the history of directing, as well as masters and doctoral seminars at various universities from 1970 to 2000, retiring in 1999. She also chaired the Department of Communication at the University of Maryland from 1982 to 1989. In 1992 Dr. Gillespie received a Fulbright scholarship to teach in the English department at the University of Botswana.
The Patti P. Gillespie Slides Collection covers the period from 1982 to 2000 with the bulk of the materials falling between those dates. The collection consists of two boxes of slides used in Dr. Gillespie’s theatre and drama classes to illustrate such subject matter as the Grecian beginnings of theatre, Elizabethan dramas, American minstrel shows, famous actors and actresses, and collegiate musicals.
Leon Major (b. 1933) is a Canadian-born theater and opera director, who has directed and taught internationally. Major was the first Artistic Director of The Maryland Opera Studio at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he worked from 1987 to 2013. The materials in this collection, which includes production files, book materials, and programs, date from 1860 through 2016.
