Alumni Reminisce Fondly About the Adams Shakespearean Theatre

Like a great battleship, the Adams Memorial Theatre has been decommissioned following a sell-out season for the Utah Shakespeare Festival under the mighty Wooden O's night lights. It has been a season to reminisce, and we asked our alumni, via social media, to share their memories. Enjoy!

Gail Owens ('03): My husband and I went to the Adams to see A Midsummer Night's Dream on our first date waaaay back in 1999! It was his first Shakespeare play and my little test for him. I knew that if he decided USF wasn't for him, then he wasn't for me. For the record, he liked it and we've got to quite a few plays together in the 16 years we've been together.

Maren Maclean: A Midsummer Night's Dream was one of my favorite memories of the Adams! I got to play Helena in that production and just a little FYI, Ty Burrell of "Modern Family" played Oberon in that production!

Grayson Moulton ('14): I first stepped onto the Adams during High School Shakespeare Competition, and it felt magical. I felt transported back to the Globe itself. It's always been a special place for me since then. I have performed on it multiple times, and it is even where I proposed to my wife. I'm thrilled the USF has its new space, but my heart will pine for the history of the Adams.

Jessica Lang Jackson ('06): I worked there as a student custodian just after I got married. Oh, the joys of wiping down those seats with microfiber! Zap!

May M. Hunter: My memories are endless - I saw several plays there - my daughter sold tarts each summer - my granddaughter performed there while taking acting classes - seems I grew up with the Adams. Sometimes I would just go there, sit in one of the seats and fill my heart with my love for Shakespeare. It's there one could feel tragedy, love, triumph and glory. Thank you, Adams Theatre for all the memories. You are a legacy beyond measure. You will be missed and your new replacement will start its very own legacy!! Live on Adams Theatre!

Marlo Madsen Ihler ('99 & '04): Because my mom grew up in Cedar, we would come visit my grandparents here each summer. I always looked forward to it, especially when I started attending the Festival's plays as a girl. I've been coming for almost 30 years, and have worked at the Festival year-round for almost ten.

Melissa Baird Skinner ('99): Many memories of this theatre flood my mind. From being a little child and visiting The Greenshow while my mother, Marilyn Knoffsinger, worked at the USF; as a teenager visiting from Pennsylvania to see my first production, The Tempest (1989) and returning again in 1991 to see all three shows in the theatre; to working my first season (and many more) at USF as a House Manager (Summer 1995) and watching Much Ado About Nothing in the pouring rain with Christopher Ryan Hadlock; the countless night of closing the theatre down at the end of the night and visiting "Strike Night" after all the employees depart Cedar City. The many friendships with employees, volunteers and patron because I worked at the theatre. Witnessing Russ Olsen proposing to Katie Mortensen Olsen one Sunday evening (they met while working as house managers). Countless memories of spending time with my husband, Bradlee W. Skinner, taking walks around the theatre and sitting in the theatre. The list can go on and on. The Adams Theatre holds many memories for so many people. It was built because Fred C. Adams had a dream. Doug Cook and many other made that dream a reality. It is wonderful to see that the dream continues to grow. I will miss the Adams Theatre, but it is wonderful to see progress and change that is taking place.

Trisha Houser ('01): I saw my first play at the Adams Theatre when I was 13. It was Romeo and Juliet and I fell in love. A few years later, I got the chance to meet  Fred C. Adams and worked with him several times. He made a huge impact on my life and my husband. I love the feeling I get sitting in the outdoor theatre. The nostalgia of soooo many memories brings me the greatest joy!

Scott Hurd ('15): In 2012, my friends and I made plans to go to the Friday showing for the student production of As You Like It. I woke up Friday morning to the sounds of rain. It poured all day and never stopped. We went by the Adams fearful it would be cancelled but hoping they might move it inside. Well as they say in theater, "The show must go on." The actors did an amazing job, even though a few slipped, one even fell off the stage (though this may have been part of the act because he was twitterpated over  a young lady, but I doubt it). My favorite part was the roars of applause for the stage crew as they came out between acts to slick the water off the state. Luckily, no one actually "broke a leg."

Kevin Stevens ('03): When I was working in the Randall and had a night off, I would often crawl along the eyebrow, behind the lights, to bring the stage manager and the rest of the booth crew Ben & Jerry's. It was a mission of mercy on hot nights.

Brian Clement ('05): I used to kiss my wife goodbye there everyday as we split to go to our classes. She's a Shakespeare, lol. Does that count?

Fran Varela ('88): Participating in a haunted house for Halloween! People entered from the backstage door, went down the stairs to the haunted basement. So much fun!

JoAnn B. Topham: I remember when it was built and how excited we all were to have an authentic Shakespearean Theatre. I think my dad's company built it, but not 100% sure about that!

Emily O. Ronquillo ('14): Almost every time I see a show in the Adams Theatre it rains and now my friends refuse to go to shows with me. Update: Last night I decided to see Taming of the Shrew because there was no rain in the forecast and it still managed to rain.

Lori Beebe: Punch and Judy . . . "fetch me the baby."

Jenny Shuck Bates ('99): Directed my first full-length main stage production in the Adams! Rumors by Neil Simon.

Lorna Gower: My husband did a lot of work on this. Many memories of working on it while the actors were practicing. It feels like another little piece of me is going away.

Larry P. Parker ('95): Senior year of high school (1990), we were practicing in the Shakespeare 1-act plays. It was my first time in the Randall, and I was a little nervous. I ran onstage to introduce our scene, and one of the judges yelled from the crowd, "Wait! I'm not ready." I didn't know what to do, so I shrugged my shoulders and ran back off to a chorus of laughter.

Amy Wright ('05): As a kid, starting at about eight, I used to sneak into dress rehearsals at the Adams all the time. As a teenager, I saw almost every play every year. It's weird that something that was such a huge part of my childhood is going away.

Cameron McLean ('82): I worked for the summer with the custodial department and was assigned to the Theater Department. I had the best summer. The BBC came to film in the theatre because it was the only original Shakespearean designed theatre in the world. The Globe Theatre in England had been modified over years. Or so they told us. In any event, Jeremy Irons was the lead actor who came to do the short films. I got to know all of the tech crew and Mr. Irons. I loved going to the theater at night and hanging out with my parakeet, Casper. He would sit on my shoulder and we met all kinds of people while listening to minstrels and having baked treats. I loved SUSC - as it was then.

Amy Camp: I used to clean the Shakespearean Theatre in the mornings before school, and during the summer break from a "supplemental" job from 1990-1992. My boss, Georgia, caught me more than a few times trying on the costumes or wigs of Hamlet or The Shrew or MacBeth, testing out the makeup, and even washing my hair . . . hhaaa! I think she kept me on as an employee purely for the entertainment value!! Those were such magical, fun times . . . just having my private moments cleaning The Adams Theatre . . . Queen Bee overseeing the props, taking it all in . . . if only for a brief time. Makes me sentimental thinking of it no longer being used.

Seth Turner: My Grandma Banks used to give me tickets every summer when I visited Cedar as a youth. I went to every play I could, alone or with a date or friend. I miss those times.

Teresa Gibson: I saw my first play there at age 8. My Aunt Dean took me, and my love for Shakespeare and that Theatre began. Also, horehound candy and hot cross buns! I don't really like horehound but it is a cherished memory. My desire to have a summer home in Cedar began with my first play in the Adams Theatre. I have attended plays every summer and one always has to be in the Adams Theatre.

Lahoma Kee ('05): I grew up in Cedar and we spent our summers at The Greenshow! We would put on our own shows when the stage wasn't being used. I worked there when I turned 14. The Shakespeare Festival brings back more than childhood memories. It's home!!

Hailey Rushton ('09): When I cam to SUU as a freshman, I loved going to The Greenshow and being lucky to maybe go to one play. Then I was a custodian in those building for my last three years at SUU and stayed three summers to work, and we took care of all the Shakespeare buildings. It was hard work getting the theatre ready for the season, but I have many great memories of the Adams Theatre as a spectator to the plays and as someone who got to work for the Festival.

Nicole Funderburk ('00): There is nothing that can adequately describe the magical feeling of watching a play under the beautiful Cedar City sky in the Adams Theatre.

Tarri Madlung ('05): The first play I ever attended was The Taming of the Shrew 20 years ago.

Natalie Gunn-Coffman ('09): My grandfather (Richard Gunn) used to take me there each summer when I would visit as a child. We would watch The Greenshow and peer inside the theatre. It seemed so magical with all the flower baskets and ribbons! When I moved to Cedar for college, I worked in the SUU Bookstore which ran the Shakespearean gift shop right by the Adams Theatre. I was able to see all The Greenshow performers get ready and hear the plays from the gift shop. One night, one of the security guards let me crawl up the steps, just out of sight,

so that I could watch a scene from Hamlet. I had told him it was my very favorite play! I spent most of my life looking forward to the day I could attend school at such a fun place with a big, old theatre right on campus, and I was not disappointed!