University of Colorado: Mary Rippon Outdoor Theater - Boulder CO

City:: Boulder, CO
Site Type:: Education and Health, Parks and Recreation, Colleges and Universities, Amphitheaters and Bandshells
New Deal Agencies:: Works Progress Administration (WPA), Work Relief Programs
Completed:: 1939
Designer:: George Reynolds
Quality of Information:: Moderate
Marked:: No
Site Survival:: Extant

Description

Completed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1939, the Mary Rippon Outdoor theater is located on the University of Colorado campus between the Henderson Building (see post on Henderson Building) and the Hellems Art and Sciences Building. Mary Rippon is believed to be the first female professor at the University of Colorado and the first woman in the United States to teach at a state university.

The theater was designed by George Reynolds, a professor of English and one of the founders of the theater department.

The theater was officially completed in 1939, but no plays were staged there until 1944. Because the Department of the Navy occupied the indoor University Theater during World War II, the Shakespeare professor at the time decided to use the new Mary Rippon complex for a production of Romeo and Juliet. The play led to the establishment of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival in 1958.