Ohio Theatre Alliance at WSU Special Collections & Archives

MS-95 Ohio Theater Alliance

Introduction

The records of the Ohio Theatre Alliance were accessioned into the Wright State University Department of Archives and Special Collections on July 5, 1979 as accession #79 - 24. Further additions have been made to the collection in 1984, 1987 and 1994, in accordance with the original agreement made between the Alliance and Wright State University. collection is arranged in thirteen (13) series or record groups as follows:

Series 1 : Organizational Records
Subseries 1 : Organizational documents
Subseries 2 : Trustees and Board of Directors
Subseries 3 : Officers' Reports and Correspondence
Series 2 : Financial Records
Series 3 : Membership
Series 4 : Educational Events
Subseries 1 : Conferences
Subseries 2 : Retreats
Subseries 3 : Workshops
Series 5 : Action Groups
Series 6 : Auditions
Series 7 : Certification
Series 8 : Publicity
Series 9 : "Theater Topics"
Series 10 : High School Theater
Series 11 : Children's Theater
Series 12 : Correspondence
Series 13 : Miscellaneous

The records in this collection span from 1972-1986, and fill 17 Hollinger boxes and 186 file folders. There are no restrictions on the use of this material as a research source, although all rights to the material rest with the Ohio Theater Alliance.

History

The Ohio Theater Alliance Incorporated was established as a non-profit organization on May 16, 1973, and was recognized by the American Theater Association in that same year. It operates under a loosely constructed constitution and set of by-laws, and is involved in all aspects of theater in Ohio.

In 1972 ad hoc committee (consisting of Dr. Alvin Kaufman, Dr. Abe Bassett, Ms. Margaret Ezekiel, John C. Barner and Dr. John Walker) was created in order to investigate and make suggestions about the formation of a state - wide theater organization. Since the need for such an organization had already been established, Dr. John Walker, the organizations first president stated :

" In October of 1972, a group of some sixty people representing a broad spectrum of theater people met to consider a need for a state theater association in Ohio. It was readily apparent to the group that there were many concerns and problems common to various segments of theater, and that no existing state association was organized to embrace all areas. Therefore, a committee was formed to set up a structure and operational plan."

The state-wide organization which the committee recommended was established on May 19,1973.

The major function of the organization was to bring together all levels of theater (professional, community, college/university, secondary school, and children's theater), to promote communication and understanding, and to take action on matters of mutual concern. The Ohio Theater Alliance affiliated with the American Theater Alliance in order to achieve an effective and strong association at all levels. The state, regional, and national associations presented a united front to the academic, professional, social and cultural entities of society which positively affected the dramatic arts.

Adequate monetary support for theater activities certainly was a consideration of common concern among the theater groups, but this consideration alone could not have bonded the groups together into a single unified whole. Topics discussed at the first meeting included :

accreditation in theater
scheduling
regional and state high school festivals
creative drama
relationship between professional theater and educational theater
future of American Theater Alliance in Ohio

Relationships, needs and concerns were aired at the meeting, and a broad perspective of theater in Ohio emerged. The Alliance became an umbrella organization which continues to shelter and nourish the dramatic arts in Ohio.

Scope and Content Note

The records of the Ohio Theater Alliance are divided into thirteen (13) series or record groups.

Series 1, Organizational Records, consists of three subseries : Subseries 1, Organizational documents which contains the OTA Constitution and later revisions, an organizational chart and other material related to the beginnings of the Ohio Theater Alliance ; Subseries 2, Trustees and Board of Directors, which contains lists of Board members, a Board manual and Board meeting minutes and Subseries 3, Officers' Reports and Correspondence, which contains material relating to the officers of OTA, including reports and correspondence.

Series 2, Financial Records, contains budget proposals, grant applications and correspondence, treasurer's reports and other financial information.

Series 3, Membership, includes directories, mailing lists, correspondence and other materials pertaining to membership in OTA.

Series 4, Educational events, consists of three subseries : Subseries 1, conferences deals with the bi-annual Ohio Theater Alliance conferences ; Subseries 2, retreats contains materials related to the Board of Directors planning sessions for the Alliances bi-annual conferences ; Subseries 3, Workshops, pertains to training sessions for teachers and other professionals in the communications field.

Series 5, Action Groups, consists of material on the "action groups" established by the Alliance. These include College theater, Graduate theater, Professional theater, Theater management, Community theater, design and technology and Ohio playwrights as well as other action groups which were established as the need arose.

Series 6, Auditions, covers auditions from 1976-1985.

Series 7, Certification, documents the efforts of the Alliance to obtain better certification standards for drama teachers in Ohio schools.

Series 8, Publicity, contains brochures, news releases, newsletters, survey correspondence and a copy of Theater in Ohio 1980.

Series 9,"Theater Topics", contains information on a variety of subjects which are of interest to the Ohio Theater Alliance. This category was created by Abe Basset, a former president of the Alliance, when the collection was donated.

Series 10, High School Theater, and Series 11, Children's Theater, contain information on the various high school and children's theater festivals presented under the auspices of the Ohio Theater Alliance.

Series 12, Correspondence, contains correspondence of the Alliance arranged in chronological order.

Series 13, Miscellaneous, contains miscellaneous materials.

Container Listing

Series 1: Organizational Records

Box	File	Contents
1		Subseries 1: Organizational Documents
	1	Articles of Incorporation
	2	Organizational documents, 1972-73
	3	Certificate of Amendment to Articles of Incorporation, 1977
	4	Organizational Chart, 1984
	5	Constitutions, original and revisions, 1973, 1980
	6	Constitution revision committee materials, 1978-79
2		Subseries 2: Trustees and Board of Directors
	7	Board of Trustees manual
	8	Board member listings
		Board of Directors Minutes
	9		1973-1974
	10		1975-1977
	11		1978-1979
	12		1982-1984
		Board of Directors Meetings
	13		January-October, 1985
	14		January-September, 1986
	15	Board Meeting Materials, 1975-81
2	1	Board Meeting Materials, 1985-86
	2	OTA Five-Year Plan, 1984/85-1988/89
	3	U.S. Institute of Theater Technology (USITT)
	4	Nominating Committee, 1976-84
		Subseries 3: Officers' Reports and Correspondence
	5	Executive Director's Search, 1978
	6	Executive Director's Reports, 1978-80
	7	Ad hoc committee for the OTA, Correspondence, 1972
	8	President's Correspondence, 1973-80
	9	President's Reports, 1973-84
	10	Vice-President's Reports, 1977-78
	11	Executive Secretary's Reports, 1976-77
	12	Secretary, 1977-78

Series 2: Financial Records

Box	File	Contents
2	13	Budget Proposals, 1976-80
	14	Grant Applications, 1976-80
	15	Grants-Correspondence, 1976-77
	16	Income and Expenditures, 1981-83
	17	Treasurer's Correspondence, 1974-80
	18	Treasurer's Notebook, 1974-78
	19	Treasurer's Reports, 1973-79

Series 3: Membership

Box	File	Contents
3	1	Directories, 1973-80
	2	Directories, 1981-85
	3	Letters and Miscellaneous Materials
		Mailing Lists
	4		1974-1976
	5		1976-1978
	6		1986
		Membership - Miscellaneous
	7		1972-1977
	8		1978-1980

Series 4: Conferences, Retreats, and Workshops

Box	File	Contents
		Subseries 1: Conferences
4	1	Fall 1973
	2	Spring and Fall 1974
	3	Spring 1975
	4	Spring and Fall 1976
	5	Fall 1976 with ATA Region III, correspondence
	6	Fall 1977
	7	Spring, April 14-16, 1978
	8	Fall, October 15, 1978
	9	Spring 1979
	10	Fall 1979
	11	Spring 1980
	12	Fall 1980
	13	Spring 1981
	14	Fall 1981 with ATA Region III, Correspondence (held at Wright State University)
	15	Correspondence and Miscellaneous
	16	Session Reviews
4a	1	OTA 10th Anniversary Conference, 1983
	2	Fall, October 5-7, 1984
	3	Fall, October 25-27, 1985
	4	Fall, October 10-12, 1986
		Subseries 2: Retreats
	5	Retreats, 1977-79
	6	Planning Retreats, 1984-85
	7	Planning Retreats, 1986
		Subseries 3: Workshops
	8	Playwrights Workshop
	9	Adjudication Workshop
	10	Public Relations Workshop
	11	Basic Skills Improvement Task Force
	12	K-12 Theater Education Workshops

Series 5: Action Groups

Box	File	Contents
5	1	Action Groups - General, 1975-78
	2	Awards Committee, 1977-78
	3	Awards, 1984
		College Theater
	4		Programs, 1973-80
	5		1976
	6	Playbills, 1976-81
	7	Playbills, 1981-85
	8	Community Theater, 1976-78
	9	Design and Technology, 1973-78
	10	Graduate Theater, 1978
	11	Minority Theater, 1981
	12	Playwrights
	13	Professional Theater, 1976-78
	14	Theater Management, 1977-78

Series 6: Notorious Criminal File

Box	File	Contents
6	1	Auditions, 1976-78
	2	Auditions, 1979
		Auditions, 1980
	3		Applications - Celebration Theater
	4		Applications - Festival Theater
	5	Applications - Management Tech.
	6	Correspondence
	7	Auditions, 1981-82
	8	Auditions, 1983
	9	Auditions, 1984-85
	10	Auditions; Companies 1985

Series 7: Certification

Box	File	Contents
7	1	Arts in Education
	2	ATA Standards; Wisconsin Proposal and Document
	3	Guidelines for Speech Communications and Theater Certification
	4	Ad hoc Committee on Certification, Miscellaneous
		OTA Certification Committee
	5		Correspondence, 1977-79
	6		Documents for Certification Standards, 1977-79
	7	OTA Recommendations and Harris Study
	8	Correspondence, 1975-77
	9	Meeting Minutes, 1976-77
7a	1	SCA/ATA Joint Task Force on Certification Standards
	2	SCA/ATA Joint Task Force Proposals on Teacher Certification
	3	Teacher Certification Study

Series 8: Publicity

Box	File	Contents
8	1	Newsletters, 1973-76
	2	Newsletters, 1977-85
	3	News Releases and Publicity
	4	OTA Brochure, 1983-84
	5	Survey Correspondence, 1979-80
	6	Theater in Ohio, 1980
	7	Advertising/Sales

Series 9: Theater Topics

Box	File	Contents
9	1	Art Advocacy, 1978
	2	ATA-Region III, 1976-78
	3	Audience, 1973-75
	4	In-service Workshop
	5	Ohio Alliance for the Arts in Education (OAAE)
		Ohio Arts Council
	6	Ohio Arts Council, 1977-78
	7	Service Organization Workshop, 1979
	8	Sponsorship Development, Proposals
	9	Theater Panel
	10	Ohio Citizens Committee for the Arts, 1979-81
10	1	Ohio Regional Association of Concert and Lecture Enterprises (ORACLE), 1979
	2	Specialists in Drama
	3	Summer Theater Survey
	4	Technical Clearing House
	5	Thespians
	6	Touring Theater Residency

Series 10: High School Theater

Box	File	Contents
11		High School Play Festivals
	1	High School Play Festival, General
	2	1973-1974
	3	1975
	4	1976
	5	1977
	6	1978
	7	1978-1979
	8	1979-1980
	9	1980
12	1	1980
	2	1981
	3	1981
	4	1982
	5	1982
12A	1	1983
	2	1983-84
	3	1984-85
	4	1986
	5	Fairfield H.S. - Materials Used for Publicity
	6	Bassett - High School Theater Survey

Series 11: Children's Theater

Box	File	Contents
13		Children's Theater Festival
	1	1978
	2	1979
	3	1979
	4	1979
	5	1980
	6	1981
14	1	Children's Theater, 1981-83
	2	Children's Theater Festival, 1983
	3	Children's Theater Festival, 1984
	4	Children's Theater Festival, 1985
	5	Children's Theater Festival, General
	6	Commission on Children
	7	Children's Theater Action Group
	8	Children's Theater Address List

Series 12: Correspondence

Box	File	Contents
15	1	1973-1974
	2	1975
	3	1976
	4	1976-1978, Abe Bassett File
	5	1977
	6	1978
	7	1978
	8	1979
	9	1979
16	1	1980
	2	1980
	3	1981
	4	1982
	5	1983
	6	1984
	7	Miscellaneous undated correspondence

Series 13: Miscellaneous

Box	File	Contents
17	1	Miscellaneous Address lists
	2	Miscellaneous Grant Project
	3	Miscellaneous Minutes & Reports
	4	Miscellaneous Survey Materials
	5	Miscellaneous Schedules
	6	Assorted Documents Varying Dates
	7	Assorted Documents Varying Dates
	7	2 Publications