May 2, 2002
Contact: Leslee Caul (509) 963-1750
ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Dr. Wesley Van Tassel, Central Washington University theatre arts professor, has been selected as the university’s Phi Kappa Phi (PKP) Scholar of the Year for 2001-2002, according to Dr. Barry Donahue, CWU PKP chapter president.
The annual award is presented to the member of the university faculty who has made exceptional contributions to their own scholarly field, while placing a strong emphasis on intellectual breadth that makes their work of interest to the larger academic community.
“The board was greatly impressed with his achievements during the time he has been a faculty member at Central,” Donahue says. “He has contributed in many ways to the university, and continues to be a model for the entire academic community.”
Van Tassel will receive the award during ceremonies slated for May 15, at 4 p.m. in the Grupe Center on the Ellensburg campus. At the Wednesday ceremony, he will also present a lecture, titled “Shakespeare Out Loud: A Method to Hear and Read Shakespeare’s Verse for New Appreciation,” which he says will be “great fun and NOT a lecture.”
Van Tassel has, indeed, had a praiseworthy career at CWU. He served as chair of the department from 1991 to 1997, during which time he instituted many of the programs still in existence, including the extended Youth Theatre Tour, master’s program, Drama Teacher’s Summer Institute and the popular annual high school workshop, Central Exposures.
He also wrote the textbook, “Clues to Acting Shakespeare,” published by Allworth Press. The text, which Van Tassel developed after 20 years of coaching more than 300 actors in how to play Shakespeare, carefully details the “how to” of handling Shakespeare’s language. More than 50 university theatre programs and dozens of high schools throughout this country and abroad have adopted it.
“The book, we believe, will become the primary text for teaching Shakespeare in the secondary schools and one of only three or four texts for teaching Shakespeare in American colleges and universities,” Van Tassel says.
At CWU, Van Tassel teaches acting, directing, management and playwriting classes and serves as producer for the annual Dr. Betty Evans Original One Act Play Festival, as well as the new 10-Minute Play Festival, which he began in 2000.
A champion for original student plays, Van Tassel is also an accomplished playwright and has published seven plays for youth, including his original musical version of “The Tortoise and the Hare,” which has been performed at CWU.
Prior to coming to Central in 1991, Van Tassel headed five theatres in the Midwest and served as chair of two college theatre departments. He has directed more than 100 productions, including the CWU presentations of “The Comedy of Errors,” “The Merchant of Venice,” “The Grapes of Wrath,” “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” “Pump Boys and Dinettes” and “Dracula.”
Van Tassel received his bachelor’s degree at Minnesota State University in Moorhead, his master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his Ph.D. from the University of Denver. He and his wife, Dude Hatten, live in Gig Harbor.
Founded in 1897, the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi is the oldest and largest national honor society, recognizing and promoting superior scholarship in all higher education academic disciplines.
The CWU PKP chapter was established in 1976. CWU juniors who are scholastically in the top 5 percent of their class, or seniors who are scholastically in the upper 10 percent of their class are eligible for PKP membership. In addition, a limited number of faculty and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction are invited to become members.
For more information about the free, public PKP awards ceremony and lecture, or for persons of disability to arrange for reasonable accommodation, call (509) 963-1445, or (for the hearing impaired) TDD (509) 963-3323.
