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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Do you remember that time (in 1978-79) when Susan Witherow broke her ankle and her sister, Jodi, with barely any time to prepare, took over the title role in &#8220;The Taming of the Shrew?&#8221;</p><p>Did you sense, as Colin Walsh and Stephanie Gawlas portrayed &#8220;Romeo and Juliet&#8221; (in 2008), that they would eventually marry each other in real life?</p><p>Did you have any inkling, as you watched Santo Loquasto in action at King&#8217;s College (1962-66), that in 2017 his costume designs for the Broadway production of &#8220;Hello, Dolly?&#8221; would garner his 19th Tony Award nomination and fourth win?</p><p>Those are a few of the questions guests might ask each other <ins>Saturday May 11</ins> as alumni and friends of the King&#8217;s College theatre department gather in the George P. Maffei II Theatre on campus, to celebrate 50 years of theatre as a major field of study at their school, and to honor retired professor Carl Wagner, who helped get the program started.</p><p>&#8220;To me, it was the three P&#8217;s &#8212; professionalism, preparedness and poise. You automatically got that from Carl,&#8221; Paul Minda, class of &#8216;79, said on Friday as he drove from Boston, where he and his wife own a voice-over business, toward Wilkes-Barre and his alma mater. &#8220;He was a great mentor and everybody respected him.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s probably the most meticulous and organized person I ever worked with,&#8221; said Sheileen Godwin, class of &#8216;83, who teaches theatre classes at King&#8217;s as her father, the late J. Gerald Godwin, did before her. &#8220;We would not be here at all if not for everything Carl did.</p><p>&#8220;He stressed that we were always an ensemble,&#8221; Godwin added. &#8220;Nobody was better than anybody else.&#8221;</p><p>That camaraderie among the King&#8217;s Players may well precede the establishment of the theatre major half a century ago, dating back to the earlier years when theatre was first an activity at the school, then a minor field of study.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m proud of the fact we just put on our 69th Shakespeare production,&#8221; said Dave Reynolds, class of &#8216;00, who recently accepted the position of theatre department chair. &#8220;I&#8217;m particularly proud that we educate our theatre students in all aspects of the craft &#8212; not just acting but production and front of the house jobs.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;The theatre department teaches you so much,&#8221; said Anne Rodella, class of &#8216;01, who earlier this week was promoted to artistic director of the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts in Wilkes-Barre, after serving as its director of sales and marketing. &#8220;It teaches you to think on your feet and develop great problem-solving skills. We worked so hard in that department, both in our classes and in the productions we put on. We&#8217;d learn those life skills, and bond with the other students and professors so much. I believe that can help you in any job.&#8221;</p><p>Indeed, King&#8217;s theatre grads &#8212; and people who majored in other subjects but participated in theatre &#8212; are working not only in the entertainment industry but education, sales, the priesthood, journalism and law.</p><p>&#8220;Lee Cortes is a federal prosecutor who worked on the &#8216;Bridgegate&#8217; case in New Jersey,&#8221; Reynolds said as he and Godwin</p><p>started to name alumni and their accomplishments. &#8220;Cassie Westover is props master at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, &#8230; Matt Hinton is Coordinator of Writing at Misericordia University &#8230; Santo Loquasto is a god in our field &#8230;&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve worked in different places, and there&#8217;s really something special about the theatre community at King&#8217;s,&#8221; Reynolds said. &#8220;It really feels like a family. I&#8217;ve seen a person be upset about not getting the part they wanted; then 15 minutes later they&#8217;re hugging the person who got that part.&#8221;</p><p>Guests are sure to recall such incidents, as well as anecdotes about Carl Wagner, now in his early 90s.</p><p>&#8220;The desk in his office faced the window so when you walked in, his back was to you,&#8221; Mary Wasilewski Kiewlak, class of &#8216;82, reminisced. &#8220;However, he would usually say hello to you and call you by name without turning around. He could tell who you were by your footsteps. Either that or I just have a really weird walk.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Carl Wagner, third from left, confers with participants in a King&#8217;s College theatrical production from 1957, 12 years before the college established its theatre major. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_WAGNER-STUDENTS-57.jpg</photo0><caption0>Carl Wagner, third from left, confers with participants in a King&#8217;s College theatrical production from 1957, 12 years before the college established its theatre major. </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_wagner1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Even before King&#8217;s College established theatre as a major in 1969, many students participated in shows the college put on. The cast and crew for King&#8217;s College 1961 production of &#8216;See How They Run&#8217; included, first row: Joseph Rauscher, James Pigotto, Peter Oiderma, Joseph Kachurick, James Furlong, Edward Geist, Ted Byrne, Frank Bebey. Second row: Charles Mihalik, Sylvia (Romanowsky) Maloney, Agnes Walsh, Margaret Mines, Carl Wagner. Third row: James Godwin (uncle to Sheileen Godwin, King&#8217;s College technical professor of theatre), Tom Giering, Mark Malinauskas, Timothey Maloney and Guy Alitto. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_wagner1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Even before King&#8217;s College established theatre as a major in 1969, many students participated in shows the college put on. The cast and crew for King&#8217;s College 1961 production of &#8216;See How They Run&#8217; included, first row: Joseph Rauscher, James Pigotto, Peter Oiderma, Joseph Kachurick, James Furlong, Edward Geist, Ted Byrne, Frank Bebey. Second row: Charles Mihalik, Sylvia (Romanowsky) Maloney, Agnes Walsh, Margaret Mines, Carl Wagner. Third row: James Godwin (uncle to Sheileen Godwin, King&#8217;s College technical professor of theatre), Tom Giering, Mark Malinauskas, Timothey Maloney and Guy Alitto. </caption1><photoCredit1>Submitted photo </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_SAINT-JOAN-1965.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Carl Wagner, center, directed the cast of &#8216;St. Joan&#8217; in a 1965 production at King&#8217;s College. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_SAINT-JOAN-1965.jpg</photo2><caption2>Carl Wagner, center, directed the cast of &#8216;St. Joan&#8217; in a 1965 production at King&#8217;s College. </caption2><photoCredit2>Submitted photo </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>School to honor retired theatre prof Carl Wagner</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mary Therese Biebel</p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

King’s College theatrecelebrates 50 years as major