Excitement Builds In Theatre New Department Head Jeffrey Mason

Could it be? Yes, it could. Something’s comin’, something good… — from West Side Story, music by Leonard Bernstein

Education PhD 1983, Dramatic Art University of California, Berkeley Professional Background 1984-2001 Professor of Theatre, Chair of the Fine Arts Department, at California State University, Bakersfield 1983-1984 Lecturer in Theatre Arts, San Francisco State University Selected Honors and Awards Last Dance, his one-act play which premiered in April 2000, was one of three plays selected for production by FirstStage in Hollywood. Work in Progress A book on the political theatre of Arthur Miller (supported by a 2002 UO Summer Research Award) When Jeffrey Mason entered Juilliard, it was to become the next Leonard Bernstein. But, after a year in New York, Mason decided to enroll at Stanford for the opportunity to “play” in the liberal arts, as well as in the orchestra. “I was like a kid in a candy store,” he says. “I took eleven courses in ten departments in my first year!” His enthusiasm for learning and love of the dramatic arts led him to receive a Master of Arts in Education from Stanford and then into the high school classroom. However, teaching drama made him realize how much there was still to learn about it, he says, and he moved on to pursue his Ph.D. in Dramatic Art at UC Berkeley. At Stanford, Mason had received what Bernstein once called “an initiation into the love of learning” — now, Mason’s talent for teaching and passion for study will inspire the same in students at the University of Oregon. Although a voracious learner, Mason describes himself as having been a “quiet observer” as an undergraduate. “I don’t let my students get away with that now,” he says. But he doesn’t have to do too much to get his UO students involved: “Once I get them started, they are unstoppable!” As a teacher, Mason is well-attuned to his students, and that is reflected both in his classroom and on his vita. Students are eager to participate in his discussion-format classes: taking and reading notes on their laptops, volunteering to read, risking their contrary opinions. His vita includes numerous special teaching projects, from curriculum development to web-based learning exercises. When asked how one such project, a handbook Survival Guide for Students, came about, his reply was simply that “it needed to be done.” At the UO, Mason is charged with getting several new projects done. As the new head of the Department of Theatre Arts, he’s looking forward to creating the new facility that will accommodate the UO’s growing theatre program, which now consists of approximately 150 majors. “Larger programs have to be especially attentive to the stage opportunities they can offer their students,” he says. “This new complex will be crucial to the success of our students.” Over the next couple years, the department will also be developing a new series of courses entitled “Themes in Dramatic Literature.” Political Drama, the pilot class of this series, was taught by Mason this winter. As part of this course, renowned poet and playwright Amiri Baraka visited campus to explore the identity politics at work in his plays. Mason is undoubtedly an energetic addition to the department, already at home in the halls of Villard. “We have a wonderful faculty here and a great group of graduate students doing incredible things,” he says. “As department head, I think the real challenge will be to find out how we can do it even better.”

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