Who are those Mountebanks?
The word “Mountebank” literally means “mount-on-bench” and dates back to sixteenth-century Italy. It describes a traveler who, from a bench or platform, entertains his audience with stories, tricks, and songs in hopes that they might purchase pills, balsams, charms, and quick medicines. Traditionally, a Mountebank wanders, and Union's Mountebanks have often traveled from space to space, performing wherever they might find a spot, whether it was in the lunchroom or Jackson's Garden.
Founded in 1912, the Mountebanks claim to be the oldest continually-operating student theater organization in the country. Student theater actually began at Union in 1801 when a group of students petitioned the Board of Trustees for “permission to present a tragedy or comedy in College Hall,” located at the corner of Erie Boulevard and Union Street. There is no record if the play was ever produced.
The Mountebank's first theatre and director
Edward Carrol '27 left Union after graduation only to return the following year. A Mountebank for four years, he returned to Union to direct the group after he received a master's degree in English literature and drama from Columbia University. Under Carrol's leadership, the Mountebanks petitioned for a proper space in which to produce theater, and in January, 1929, President Frank Parker Day and the trustees offered them a $5,000 loan to build their theater.
Shortly thereafter, the students built a portmanteau theater in Hanna Hall in Washburn Hall, which expanded to include four dressing rooms, a greenroom,
a coatroom, and a workshop (which caught fire in 1938 and was rescued by President Dixon Ryan Fox, among others). Perhaps one of the first plays in the new theater was X=O by John Drinkwater.
With a director to oversee all Mountebanks productions, the group took a new direction. Three Mountebanks plays were done each year, and Carrot ended the use of local women to portray female roles in each of
the plays. Indeed, he convinced quite a number of young men to don dresses on stage (notice the bridesmaids in this 1932 photo of the Mountebanks production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Trial by Jury.)
The Mountebanks performed in Hanna Hall for a number of years, and students took play production classes through the English Department. When Washburn Hall was slated for demolition in the early 1960s to make room for expansion of Schaffer Library, the theater moved to the now-vacated Nott Memorial, and a new era of theater began at Union.
A Bold Stroke for a Wife
The first student performance of which there is a record is the 1804 freshman class play, A Bold Strike for a Wife, by Mrs. Centlivre. In 1934, Edward Carrol '27 revived it, and once again local actresses joined the Mountebanks on stage.
Carrol's Scrapbooks
Carrol's s Scrap books Carrol's scrapbooks, which are now housed in the College archives, document the early history of the Mountebanks and also Carrol's devotion to theater at Union. He was director, stage designer, and acting coach, and his audition notes and scene sketches make note of nearly every stage of production.
Theatre in the Nott Memorial
With the demolition of Washburn Hall, the theater moved into the Nott Memorial, which offered an opportunity for unorthodox theater designs-and innovative theater. The great flexibility of the theater-in-the-round allowed directors and actors to experiment with the
audience performer relationship, and it was in the Nott that the first real theater classes were held at
Union.
In addition, students in play production classes had an opportunity to work in the theater-in-the-round, helping to build unique sets that catapulted the audience into the center of the action.
In the 1970s, Union established a full-fledged theater program, and Yale Drama School graduates Barry Smith and Charles Steckler were hired to run it. They offered classes in acting, directing, improvisation, and stage and lighting design, and became involved with the Mountebanks, often directing Mountebanks productions.
Into the Yulman Theatre
While the Nott Memorial offered an opportunity for imaginative theater, it simply was not a theater, and when the
they perform at Springfest on library field this spring.
and scene sketches make note of nearly every stage of production.
College determined that it was time to restore the Nott
Memorial, the Mountebanks were to find a new home-in the new Yulman Theater. There, the Mountebanks
can end their wandering-that is, until they perform at Springfest on library field this spring.