Identity area
Type of entity
University Name
Authorized form of name
Ryerson Opera Workshop
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
The Ryerson Opera Workshop was formed in 1951, with Jack McAllister (English department faculty member) as the director-in-chief. On March 13 and 14, 1952 the first ROW productions "Down In The Valley" and "The Devil and Daniel Webster" were performed. Fans and participants dubbed the new organization "ROW", after the first initials of the Workshop's name. ROW was an institute-wide involvement from the production crew to the cast members. The Workshop had its financial ups and downs over the years. There was no ROW in 1959 because the Student Administrative Council felt it could no longer support the show, but in 1960, ROW was once again produced and continued until 1976. In 1963 "Once Upon A Mattress" was the last musical performed in the old Ryerson Theatre (Ryerson Hall), and in 1964 "Brigadoon" was the first ROW performance in the newly constructed Ryerson Theatre (Howard Kerr Hall). The ROW Collection contains: programmes, notices, invitations, photographs, reel-to-reel tape and clippings. The clippings have been arranged under the ROW Group because the documentation files have become dormant and will not be added to. Information is sketchy as this point but will be updated as it becomes available.