E-52 Student Theatre was started in 1923 as an English class designed to produce plays. Over the years, it has undergone many changes, and E-52 as we know it was born in 1985. Today, E-52 produces a well rounded season each year, both on and off the stage. Generally we produce one main stage production every semester, of anything from absurdist theater to comedy to student originals. We also sponsor numerous social activities-- parties, trips, even a birthday party for Shakespeare-- which promote an atmosphere for all to enjoy.

...so if you know how to add and subtract, then you might have guessed that we just celebrated our 80th anniversary! If you have any photos or information as an alumni or a fan from any era of E-52, please contact us.

Also, here is a three part article that 2004 alumni, Melissa Berman, wrote for the Review on theatre at the University of Delaware.

Thanks to Melissa Burman for her detailed history!

Miscellaneous Theatre Facts:

• The first production performed at the University of Delaware, then called Delaware College, was Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Rivals in 1873, performed in the Oratory of Old College.
• A World Without Theatre : Prior to 1873, the school's strict Presbyterian trustees felt concerned that theater would decrease students' morality, so no productions were performed on campus.
• The first theatre group on campus was the "Mask and Wig Club" in 1901, which consisted of the Glee Club, Banjo and Mandolin Club and College Orchestra.
• In the mid 1900's, Delaware College founded the Footlights Club and the Women's College founded the Dramatics Club , which later evolved into the Puppet's Club in 1925. In 1919 and 1920, the two groups united to perform Electra and A Midsummer Night's Dream.
• In 1923 Assistant Professor Ernest Canfield Van Keuren of the English department taught two drama courses called E-51 and E-52. The E-52 class was continued the following semester by Dr. C. Robert Kase. From this class, the E-52 Players was formed for students outside of the course in 1931. And that's where E-52 got its name!
• In 1948 E-52 Children's Theater was founded by Elizabeth Kase
• Entertaining the Troops - In 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. Later, E-52 performed both The Boy Friend in 1961 and Kiss Me Kate in 1954 throughout different military bases in Europe
• From 1971 to 1974, the E-52 Players changed the group's name to Laboratory Theater, giving students, rather than faculty, the opportunity to direct, design and produce shows. The group performed experimental and more intimate shows such as The Seagull and Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?
• When HTAC Did Not Produce Musicals - In 1974, sophomores Bill Berryhill and Robert Higgens founded the Harrington Theater Arts Company, named after the Harrington A dormitory where both resided. In 1980, HTAC performed A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in Wolf Hall as their first musical.
• The Theatre Gangs of Delaware? - In 1986 E-52 became an independent student organization open to all majors. No longer able to use Mitchell Hall for practice and performance space, E-52 began sharing 100 Wolf Hall with HTAC in 1986, and a five year "war" began between the two groups that included stealing costumes and lightbulbs before shows started.
• Theatre Disapears at Delaware - The undergraduate theater performance major was abolished in 1987 when the Professional Theatre Training Program made Hartshorn Hall its new home.
• In 1992, sophomore Lowell Christopher Matthews founded the Khulamani Theater Troupe, the first black student theater group at the university "as a way to honor and represent the artistic culture and contributions of African Americans, not as a race, but as people with a different lense."
• In 1996 Rubber Chickens comedy group began as a six member improv group.

Alumni Power
• Main Street's Chapel Street Players, originally called the University Drama Group in 1934, was founded by Elizabeth Kase.
• Three alumni students in the theater department founded City Theater Company in Wilmington in 1993.

For more details, check out Melissa Berman's complete article!