Doug Hubbell, “foundation” of USI theatre, retiring
 Hubbell |
For most of the 1980s, Dr. Douglas Hubbell, associate professor of theatre, was the theatre program at USI. Hubbell, who retires in June ’09 after a spring sabbatical, has designed, built, directed, and performed in more than 100 USI productions in the past 28 years.
At the retirement reception in November, Elliot Wasserman, director of theatre, said, “Of the 211 plays that have been produced by USI since 1970, Doug has acted in or directed, designed, built, painted or otherwise had something to do with 124 of them. That’s almost 60 percent of them and includes the first 10 years of productions when he wasn’t even here.”
Some were at New Harmony Theatre, where Hubbell designed and performed in the first USI production (Mass Appeal) in 1988, and others at Lincoln Amphitheatre, where USI presented summer theatre from 1989 to 2005.
In his crowded office on the third floor of the Liberal Arts Center, Hubbell is surrounded by scripts, photographs, and posters from past productions. He has more than 20 intricately detailed scale models of his set designs. His final set was a minimalist design for Waiting for Lefty, which ran through November 23 in the Mallette Studio Theatre. He plans to donate the models, along with technical drawings and prompt scripts, to the University Archives.
The depth of Hubbell’s experience in set design and construction is only exceeded by his knowledge of theatre history. When Wasserman interviewed for a position at USI in 1991, Steven Williford, former director of theatre, described Hubbell as “the most knowledgeable theatre historian he had ever known. There was simply no question you could ask him that he wouldn’t have an extensive answer to.”
Wasserman said, “Doug is a historian by education, but he can design sets and build models, illustrate programs, paint flats and drops, act, direct, and – in doing so – serve for years as the foundation of a program that will be forever in his debt.”
Hubbell’s whole family has performed on the USI stage. He and his wife Laura and children Liza and Sam all performed in the spring 1984 production of Bury the Dead. Laura Hubbell, who taught communications at USI for several years, memorably portrayed Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie. Liza, a USI graduate with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts, played Laura Wingfield. His father proudly recalls Sam’s leading performance in The Floating Lightbulb.
A few of Hubbell’s past roles include Otto Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank and Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol at USI, Father Tim in Mass Appeal and Doc Baugh in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at New Harmony Theatre, and Reuben Grigsby in Young Abe Lincoln and Herr Zeller/Priest in Sound of Music at Lincoln Amphitheatre. “I’m Doug Hubbell some days and other days it seems I have morphed into a number of other characters,” he said at the retirement reception.
Hubbell grew up in Normal, Illinois, where he discovered a love of theatre in grade school. He earned a bachelor’s degree in speech and theatre at the University of Iowa and a Master of Arts degree and Ph.D. in theatre at Indiana University.
From 1968 to 1977, he taught scene design, introduction to theatre, theatre history, and western drama at the University of Evansville. He taught for a year at Earlham College and a year at Millikin University before joining USI, where he was charged with resurrecting a dormant theatre program that had seen many directors come and go since it was established in 1970.
Keeping the USI theatre program running after a break in continuity is one of Hubbell’s proudest achievements, along with designing and performing in the first New Harmony Theatre production and helping develop the Humanities program in fall 1988.
He’s seen the theatre program move from the Communications Department to the Department of Art, Music, and Theatre to the Department of Performing Arts. And in the last two years, he’s witnessed the birth of a program that has catapulted USI into an elite group of universities nationwide: the Repertory Project, which allows USI theatre students to perform with professional actors and earn points toward membership in Actors Equity Association.
In addition to his USI performances, Hubbell has been in demand as a film actor. He made his debut in Sacred Hearts, written and directed by Patrick O’Connor and featuring several USI theatre students, and had roles in Bar Types, Cupid, Novem, and most recently, Symbiotica, produced and directed by former USI theatre instructor Nick Faust.
In retirement, he’s willing to do more acting and designing if opportunities arise. His plans also include preserving videos of USI productions by transferring them from VHS tape to DVD. He’s considering starting an alumni newsletter for graduates of the theatre program. He also plans to spend time with his granddaughter and children, who live in Denver, Colorado.
Wendy Knipe Bredhold
News & Information Services
812/461-5259 or wkbredhold@usi.edu
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