{"id":8865,"date":"2020-02-25T09:33:22","date_gmt":"2020-02-25T14:33:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/?p=8865"},"modified":"2021-06-16T10:25:09","modified_gmt":"2021-06-16T14:25:09","slug":"letters-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/letters-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Letters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Setting the Scene <\/h2>\n\n\n

There is another story to tell about Withey Chapel (\u201cHow Monmouth Was Made<\/a>,\u201d fall 2019) that I think should be added to its history. In 1964, members of the Monmouth College theater group and our favorite professor, Lauren \u201cWoody\u201d Woods, took over the chapel and renamed it the Chapel Studio Theater. It was a perfect little venue to produce plays for a limited audience back then. It was an intimate space for sure: I believe we were able to squeeze in 24 seats for each performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Marilyn Egolf Rocky \u201965 and the late Michael Fisher \u201966 in a 1965 production of The Bald Soprano<\/em> that was performed in Withey Chapel.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Most of the audiences were\nstudents from various acting classes or there by personal invitation from\nLauren Woods. As I can recall, some of the plays we did were The Bald\nSoprano<\/em>, Death of a Salesman<\/em>, and The Glass Menagerie<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the hall from the\nChapel Studio Theater was the Wilson Hall Bowling Alley. It was the perfect\nplace to do makeup and store costumes for each show. No one within the college\nadministration seemed to care if we used the chapel or the bowling alley. For\ntwo years, that was a special place for the drama group. Our only other venue\nin those days was the little theater on the lower level of Wilson Hall. It was\na totally different time in the history of the school. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was one little problem we had doing our shows in the chapel though. The chapel is right behind and next to the former ladies\u2019 room (now the men\u2019s room) on Wilson\u2019s lower level. Every flush clearly resounded during each play. The actors got used to it, but the audience always had a chuckle!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marilyn Egolf Rocky \u201965 <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

Withey Chapel, Two Takes <\/h2>\n\n\n

One of the creepiest places\non campus, but in a charming way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

@HarlonJugo via Twitter <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of my favorite spots on\ncampus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

@jellybellyspinelli via Instagram <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

Remembering Kenneth Stunkel <\/h2>\n\n\n

I was saddened to read of the passing of Dr. Kenneth Stunkel (\u201cRemembrance<\/a>,\u201d summer 2019). What a great man and educator he was! I have many enduring memories of Dr. Stunkel, but two stand out. The first is the very first class that I attended in September 1976: Western Cultures, co-taught by Dr. Stunkel and Dr. Prescott Evarts. How fortunate to be taught by two such esteemed titans of academia at Monmouth. The way they worked together was truly inspiring! And, of course, both had such incredible senses of humor as well as intellectual brilliance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n