Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1975 - 11

IDONALD M. OENSLAGER

FRANK CARRINGTON

In Memorium
DONALD MITCHELL OENSLAGER
JUNE 21, 1975
The details of Donald Oenslager's life are in Who's Who
in America, 38th Edition, have been set forth in the
newspapers and in the Spring 1970 issue of the Yale
Drama Alumni Newsletter upon his retirement. They need
not be repeated here. We are concerned with other facets
and aspects of the man we called "Mr. Oenslager,"
"Professor Oenslager:' "Mr. 0.:' "DMO:' or simply
"Don:' always with respect and affection.
Don was blessed in learning at an early age what he
wanted to do. As a child he made a theatre and
constructed scenery for it. And he learned that design for
the theatre required a broad base in liberal education;
hence Exeter Academy and Harvard College. And he was
fortunate to be at Harvard when Denman Ross, Arthur
Pope and George Pierce Baker were there. He learned not
only color value and tone relations and the history of
theatre from Greece 5th century B.C. to the present. He
learned to put words together into radiant prose in
lectures and in books.
An example:
With the Greeks this "inward significance" was as
natural as breathing. This effortless breath of life
pervaded all they touched or gave thought to. Their
balance of intellect and spirit achieved symmetry,
unity, and harmony, leaving no room for internal
discord and confusion.
Stage Design, page 15
Don was the last survivor of the small group of Harvard
associates that George Pierce Baker reassembled in New
Haven to form the Yale Department of Drama a round
half-centuryago.
In fulfilling his commitments to be at the school, Don
was almost as regular as the Harkness bells. At first twice
each week and later only once a week (which only meant
that he did as much in one day as he had previously done
in two), he was seldom ill enough to miss a day and he
was absent by arrangement only if he had an opening in
Philadelph ia or Boston.
Don brought to the practice and teaching of stage
design, to learning about the past and to speculation
about the future, an enthusiasm, engendered in his
childhood and carried through his whole life, which was
contagious among his students and colleagues. He approached every task of producing scenery eagerly,
energetically, and above ail cheerfully. He would launch a
paint crew into what they knew would be an all-night
session with elan which would grab them and carry them
through the night, to finish aglow with elation, equalling
the sunrise.
Don, more than any other person, made the teaching
and learning of Stage Design an academic discipline at
graduate level, relating the history of the art and the craft
to all other arts and to the current, active, work of
designing plays, musicals, opera and ballet.

USITT

THEATRE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

FAll.1975

If Don left a lesson for us it was: to design one must
know. He believed in finding out; his curiosity was
without bounds. When he designed it was with authority
and when he criticized a student's work he was similarly
authoritative. He pulled no punches in criticism, but his
voice was always soft and soothing as if to heal the
wounds he knew he was inflicting. Many a student has
been deflated and chagrined and at the same time
enlightened and inspired by his sure-fire, analytical
critique. He was most hurt when work was not presented
on time for criticism, hurt because the student was
missing the opportunity that was rightfully his, to have his
work criticized.
Don's motto as a teacher of design might well have
been: EXCELLEREI
Another way to know Don is to read his books,
especially his last one which rings and shines with his
enthusiasm and sparkles with his polished scholarship,
beautifully expressed. Theatre people everywhere are
fortunate that he completed Stage Design and saw it
published, as if to leave with them his own glowing
memorial.
We who knew him are doubly fortunate. We are better
people because of him.
Edward C. Cole
Branford, Connecticut
Donald Oenslager was not only a fine scenic artist in
his own right, but the mentor and inspiration of scores of
gifted designers, most of whom passed through his classes
at the Yale School of Drama. As one of the original
faculty members of the School, Donald's career spans
virtually the entire life of the institution, and it was he
who set the high standards that the School has tried to
follow ever since. A warm and genial man, a devoted
teacher, a fine artist, Donald Oenslager is one of those
whose passing will be mourned wherever Americans
gather to make theatre.
Dean Robert Brustein,
Yale School of Drama

SOME MEETINGS
A rainy day in the early autumn, raw and cold. I'm
making my way upwind on College Street to the loading
alley at the old Shubert Theatre in New Haven to visit
old friends from my stage hand days, but mainly hoping
to meet my good friend and former teacher, Donald
Oenslager. As I stand in the entry at the top of the stairs,
shaking off the droplets, he exits stage left from his
elegant setting, and we are face to face. In a strong and
hearty voice, he greets me quickly: "Well, Bill, it's nice to
see you. How have you been?"
The load-in is at a crucial stage; prop men are dressing
the set, and there are a hundred details under his personal
supervision. Klaus Holm, his long-time associate, is

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