Celebrating 100 years of Drama Activities at EC Glass and The 30th Anniversary of Glass Theatre

In 1909, The Lynchburg High School Dramatic Society was organized under the sponsorship of Miss Mattie Craighill, who resigned soon after in order to get married. She was succeeded by Miss Evelina Wiggins who directed a short play, The Doctor’s Dilemma, by Annie Woodruff, LHS ‘11 as part of the commencement week activities in 1911. In the Spring of 1912, the LHS Dramatic Society presented its first full-length production, Pygmalion, under the direction of new sponsor, Mr. Howard A. Seckerman, who left several years later to become a theatre instructor at the University of Texas. In 1925, Mrs. Mattie Craighill Nichols returned and took over the Dramatic Society, renaming it the David Garrick Players (after the 18th century British actor) and establishing the tradition of doing two annual productions – one in the Fall and a Senior Play in the spring – with only one performance of each. This tradition continued when the legendary Miss Virginia Wiley took over the Glass drama program in 1948. (Lynchburg High School became EC Glass High School in 1920.) Mrs. Patricia Bernick became the drama teacher in 1965; in 1971 she directed the school’s first musical, The Music Man, which was also her final production at Glass. Four different teachers led the program from 1971-1980, doing two plays a year and a musical production every other year. In 1980, Mr. Jim Ackley, a Glass alumnus, took over the program, completely reorganizing it and renaming it EC Glass Theatre. During the past 30 years, the drama teaching staff has expanded to include three full-time instructors - Mr. Ackley, Mr. JD Stallings (2005) and Mr. Tom Harris (2008) –as well as two adjunct teachers and three support staff members.