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About James L. DeYoung
James L. DeYoung, PhD. is a 1959 graduate of Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin, where he majored in Speech and Theatre. He received an M.A. in Theatre Arts from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, in 1960 and a Ph.D. in Theatre Arts Directing from the University of Minnesota in 1974. Dr. DeYoung was Director of Theatre and served in the Communication and Theatre Arts Department of Monmouth College from 1963-2002. He chaired the Faculty Senate twice, and his department from 1975-1987. During his career he saw the theatre program grow into a major presence on campus. For many years he produced excellent productions in the old Little Theatre (a former woman’s gymnasium) and in the former reading room of the old Carnegie Library. In 1990 he oversaw the move of the Theatre Dept into the modern Wells Theatre. In 1991 he received Monmouth College’s Sears Roebuck Award for Teaching and Campus Leadership. Dr. DeYoung directed several classical plays during his career, including Sophocles’ Antigone (1964 and 1984), Jack Richardson’s The Prodigal (1967, a modern adapation of Aeschylus’ Agamemnon), Aristophanes’ Frogs (1979), Aristophanes’ Lysistrata (1982), and Plautus’ The Braggart Soldier (1987). The pond he created in the Little Theatre for the Frogs production is still recalled with admiration by those who were privileged to attend the performance. For the 1984 production of Antigone, based on Jean Anhouilh’s French version of World War II, DeYoung used a setting in war-torn Lebanon, which would create a powerful impact even in 2004. A complete list of Classical plays performed at Monmouth College, can be found at http://department.monm.edu/Classics/reproductionsclassicalplays.htm. External professional honors have included two National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Fellowships, three appointments to lead Associated Colleges of the Midwest off-campus programs in London and Chicago, and a citation in 1996 as outstanding contributor to Illinois College and University Theatre from the Illinois Theatre Association. He has given papers and lectures on theatrical history and pedagogy for the Association of Theatre in Higher Education, the Illinois Theatre Association, the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, and the American Archaeological Association. His popular theatrical history travel book, London Theatre Walks, is now in its 2nd edition. In retirement he has continued his interest in theatre history, travel, photography, and community arts activities. He was one of the founders of the Buchanan Center for the Arts in Monmouth and currently serves as president of its Board of Directors.
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