Performing and Fine Arts
College of Arts and Sciences
May 2, 2019
Before joining the performing and fine arts theater department at University of Portland, retiring professor Mead Hunter’s work in higher education had been limited to teaching graduate students. Hunter says that because graduate students see their professors as a stepping stone to beginning their careers, they are usually interested in uncritically absorbing all of the knowledge that professors have to offer. Contrary to that eagerness, Hunter says that undergraduate students often do not take a professor’s statements at face value. “They want to know ‘why’ to everything. Why Is this important? They need to know on their own terms about what is valuable to them.” Hunter says that teaching undergraduate students is a team effort between student and teacher. “They keep me honest, in a great way. They educate me. So teaching, when it really clicks, is definitely a two-way reaction.”
Although Hunter has enjoyed a lifetime career in theater, both as a dramaturg and as a teacher, he says that he fell into his profession “accidentally.” Hunter moved to Portland originally at age 19 and in need of a job, he began writing theater reviews for The Portland Scribe, a now defunct alternative newspaper. Storefront Actors Theater, a local company known for their adventurous approach to theater, liked Hunter’s writing style and invited him to join their team. Describing the company as “ingenious and creative,” Hunter recalls that company members would improvise scenes that he would capture as they were being generated, until, as an ensemble, they would work the scenes into a narrative. He received playwrighting credit for three plays that emerged from this chaotic and exciting approach to creating new theatrical productions.
Eventually, Hunter decided that he should study theater in a more formal way, so he applied and was accepted as a playwright to Yale University. As he began working on his MFA, he spoke with his professors about his goals and received what he says was the best advice of his entire life––consider becoming a dramaturg. In simple terms, Hunter describes a dramaturg as being a kind of a consultant or advisor. As such, he may work with a playwright or the director of a production, or with both, but always with the big picture in mind, asking why is this important to this company and to our community? He would ask, “Ten years from now, will we be proud that we did this? Is this furthering our mission?”
Hunter has worked with companies producing the work of dead playwrights, such as Shakespeare, but he prefers working with living playwrights. He says that often when he is working with a living playwright, especially on a world premiere, he will assist the writer as they are discovering what he or she wants to say. Hunter says it’s “very gratifying” as a dramaturg to see a world premiere and know that he had an impact on the final piece. Recently, Hunter was recruited to help with Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s “Play On!” project in which playwrights and dramaturgs were hired to review the dialogue in some of Shakespeare’s plays line by line and write a complementary piece to help modern audiences better understand the original text. Hunter worked with Doug Langworthy on the Henry VI plays. After their work for the “Play On!” project, Langworthy and Hunter completed a “collapsed” version of the three Henry VI plays, making it possible to view them in one sitting as a redacted piece. Hunter says that their completed piece has generated “great interest around the country.”
When Hunter joined the theater department at UP seven years ago, it was a time of lots of turnover. “It was a fun time to come in” he says, “because the philosophy of the theater department had tended to be, if we fly under the radar, we won’t get into trouble. Well, far from flying under the radar, we wanted to paint everything red.” Hunter explains that by ruffling a few feathers with a production choice, the department can get people excited and talking about the production. He adds that he and his colleagues did not feel that that they should shock people, but rather “see what we can bring to the table that would make people want to engage with it.”
When he joined the faculty at UP, Hunter was told that it was like a family. And he remembers thinking that every university says that. “This is the only one where I’ve been where it’s all true,” he says. Reflecting on some personal hardships that he has been through while teaching here, from the death of his spouse to his own battle with cancer, he says, “The people here, the administration and the faculty, including some I’d never met before, were incredibly supportive and warm. People were just amazing. They really do walk the walk here.”
Asked what he would miss the most after he retires from teaching at UP, Hunter says, “That’s so easy–I’ll miss the students. They are so incredibly warm and giving, I’m actually a little bit worried about this because I feel like they also keep me young. I don’t know what I’m going to do without them.”
Hunter loved his time on The Bluff. “This is really a high point for me in my teaching career,” he says. “UP was really special for me. My time here has been so sweet. I’m going to miss it.”
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