Theatre and Drama Giving Opportunities

The Department of Theatre and Drama is able to present awards to deserving students through the beneficence of alumni, faculty, and friends of Theatre. Over the years a variety of funds have been established to support these awards. While the income generated by a particular fund may not allow us to provide an award each year, where possible, the intent of the original grantor is followed.

Our department cannot thrive without the generousity of people like you. Please look at the funds listed below and please consider a gift to one or more of these worthy endeavors. You can give online using the IU Foundation's secure site, or you can send in your gift to the IU Foundation.

Theatre and Drama Fund - Provides general support for the department, including production expenses, recruiting, and season advertising.

Brown County Playhouse Fund - Provides general support for the Brown County Playhouse, including building inprovements and production expenses.

Theatre Circle - For more information on the Theatre Circle and to donate online, please click here.

Awards given in a particular year include:

Charles Aidman (Spoon River) Scholarship/Fellowship – This scholarship (first awarded in December of 2003) shall be given, from the Gift income, to one or more deserving undergraduate or graduate students majoring in the Department of Theatre and Drama. Awards are to be based upon the merit and need of a talented student or students in acting or directing. The Donor wishes to honor her late husband, Charles Aidman, who had a distinguished career in theatre and television. The Donor intends, but is not obligated, to make annual contributions to fund this scholarship. Not given until fall 2005.

Featheringill Theatre and Drama Scholarship - This new undergraduate scholarship began in 2001. The scholarship is given by Jack Featheringill, a graduate of the Department of Theatre and Drama. Featheringill spent 15 years in New York as a dancer and as a casting director, and retired after 30 years in the Department of Theatre at Portland State University, Oregon.
The main tenets of the scholarship are that the undergraduate be a junior (minimum of 56 semester credit hours) Theatre and Drama major, who is pursuing a full course of study including academic and production activity during the scholarship year. The recipient’s academic excellence must be demonstrated by an average GPA of not less than 2.50 for all courses taken and an average of 2.75 for Theatre and Drama courses taken. Production and academic excellence are to be supported by the inclusion of a letter of application from the student and one letter of recommendation from a faculty member who has worked with the student. Since financial need is a component of this scholarship, the financial need will be determined by the IU Student Financial Assistance Office to be no less than 40% of the amount required for an academic year. Applicants must comply with the IU standard Financial Assistance certification process. The results of this process will be available for review by the Department’s Scholarship Committee. This is an open application process from which recipients meeting criteria will be selected. The 2004-05 scholarship will range between $5,000 and $11,000. If the recipient satisfactorily maintains academic and production progress, GPA, and demonstrated need, support will be repeated for the senior year. An abbreviated senior year application will be required.

David S. Hawes Award - The “Award” (to begin in 2003) shall be given to an undergraduate student of junior or senior class standing, majoring in the Department, or to a student in the graduate program who has demonstrated exceptional creative work in playwriting, acting, or directing. The donor retired in 1980 after twenty-five years of challenging and rewarding service as a faculty member of the Department. Grateful that demanding work with talented students brought lasting joy to his teaching, the donor, having made this trust, wishes that income from this gift be used to support awards in the Department of Theatre and Drama.

Nota Scholl McGreevey Scholarship - The Department of Theatre and Drama annually awards an undergraduate scholarship in the name of Nota Scholl McGreevey. The purpose of the scholarship is to provide financial assistance to an undergraduate student majoring in Theatre and Drama, or an IMP student whose area of emphasis is in theatre, and who is in the process of completing her degree. Thus, the scholarship will be awarded to a student who has completed her sophomore or junior year and will be enrolled in the Department during the coming year. It is the desire of the donor that preference be given to a female student and that this student have demonstrated superior talent and dedication to the theatre.

Marion Bankert Michael Career Award - Selected by the head of acting/directing area, was established in 1998 by R. Keith Michael and Marion Bankert Michael. It will be presented annually under the auspices of the Theatre Circle to a graduating M.F.A. student in the area of Acting and Directing at Indiana University-Bloomington who has displayed evidence of exceptional talent and dedication and who, immediately upon graduation, is intent upon pursuing a career as an artist in the professional theatre. If there is no M.F.A. student in the area of Acting and Directing who meets the criteria, the award may be given to a talented and dedicated undergraduate actor or director who is graduating and is intent upon pursuing a career in the professional theatre. The selection of the recipient will be made by the Head of the Acting and Directing program, in the Department of Theatre and Drama in consultation with Theatre and Drama colleagues, and representatives of the Theatre Circle if he wishes. The primary source of funds for the award is the R. Keith Michael and Marion Bankert Michael Fund, a designated endowment fund in the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County, Inc. Until the fund has grown substantially, the Marion Bankert Michael Career Award is to be given annually to only one person, the time and occasion of the presentation to be determined by the President of the Theatre Circle in consultation with the Head of Acting and Directing. If there is no graduate or undergraduate student who meets the criteria, the award need not be given. The amount of the initial award shall be $ 1,000.

Jason W. Stradtman Award – Not a committee selected award. Selected by the Playwriting Program. The Stradtman Award was established in 2000 by Charlotte and Marty Stradtman of Irvine, CA, in honor of their son Jason. Jason was a talented young man who had committed to the IU Playwriting program in 1998 but who succumbed to cancer before he could join us. The Stradtman Award is intended specifically to honor outstanding work in playwriting and screenwriting.

Rosemary R. Schwartzel Scholarship – The donor wishes to support scholarships in the Department of Theatre and Drama. Ms. Schwartzel, an IU alumna of 1939 with a B.A. in English, created and funded this scholarship.

Helen Sarah Walker Scholarship – The scholarship (as much as $2,000), beginning in 2003, is to be awarded to an outstanding undergraduate junior enrolled in the Department who is concentrating in design and technology (in particular stage management) and is committed to returning to the university for his/her senior year. The donors wish to honor the memory of their daughter, Helen Sarah Walker, a theatre student with a particular interest in stage management, who died tragically in an auto accident.

Theatre and Drama Memorial Fund – Includes the Hubert C. Heffner, William Kinzer and Gary Gaiser scholarships.