The Arden Club of Southern Methodist University functioned as a student dramatic group from 1916 until 1969.

The club was formed in 1916 in order to perform the university’s first commencement play, As You Like It. The play was performed in a grove of trees on the southwest corner of campus, thereafter known as the Arden Forest. The entire campus participated in preparing the set and over 800 people attended. This performance began the tradition of a Shakespeare play and occasional Greek play performance during commencement exercises from the years 1916 to 1942 when World War II interrupted. The tradition was reinstated in 1947 and continued intermittently until the club’s disbanding in 1969.

The Arden Club performed in several different locations on campus throughout its fifty-four year history. The club began performing in the Arden Forest (located approximately where Perkins School of Theology stands today), but weather and chiggers soon drove performances inside. The club then began performing in the chapel on the third floor of Dallas Hall. The chapel was eventually remodeled into the Arden Playhouse and became the club’s primary performance space (known as the McCord Auditorium today). In addition, the Arden Club also performed outside on the steps of Dallas Hall. This location proved very popular as the production of Taming of the Shrew during commencement exercises in June 1919 drew an audience of over 2,000 people. The Arden Club also gave several productions in McFarlin Auditorium, such as the 1936 production of Winterset, the first nonprofessional performance of the play after its opening on Broadway in 1935. Also, in the years 1917-1935, the Arden Club not only gave performances on the SMU campus, but also in nearby towns such as Plano, Grand Prairie, Cement City and Duncanville. Arden Club performances were often reviewed by John Rosenfield in The Dallas Morning News and occasionally in Theater Arts.

Mary McCord was the sponsor and director of the Arden Club for twenty-seven years as well as the head of the Speech Department. In 1927, Edyth Renshaw and David Russell, faculty members in the Speech Department, also began directing Arden Club performances. After Mary McCord’s retirement in 1943, Edyth Renshaw became the sponsor and director of the club until 1969. The Arden Club coordinated with many other departments on campus in producing its plays such as the English, Music, and Dance departments. For example, for the 1928 production of Hamlet, English professors John McGinnis and Henry Nash Smith revised and adapted a script for this particular production which played in McFarlin Auditorium before a capacity audience. The Arden Club also involved the art community in its productions. In 1935, the club hosted the Festival of Southwestern Plays which included a set design created by artist Jerry Bywaters and plays by writers John William Rogers, Lynn Riggs and Maxwell Anderson.

In 1921, the Junior Arden Club was formed. It had more open membership and allowed more student participation as well as allowing more experienced actors to try out for the Senior Arden Club. The Junior Arden Club was also known as the Arden Club Workshop. In addition, the Arden Club Alumni group formed in 1938 and also presented plays to the community. During the 1930s, the Arden Club grew to have almost 300 members, making it one of the largest dramatic organizations in the country.

Members of the Arden Club went on to a variety of successful careers after graduation as actors and other professions in the performing arts, clergy, lawyers, college presidents, and educators. Prominent Arden Club alumni include television and film producer Aaron Spelling, United States Senator John Tower, Academy Award winning actress Kathy Bates, director of Starlight Operettas (later known as the State Fair Musicals and Dallas Summer Musicals) Charles Meeker, Dallas actor Jerry Haynes (known for his 30 years on television as Mr. Peppermint), playwright Jack Heifner, Dallas actress Ludi Mai Sensabaugh Goode, author and Southern Methodist University professor Lon Tinkle, and many others.

The Arden Club operated as a student dramatic club until it merged with the Division of Theatre in the Meadows School of the Arts in 1969.

Source:

Abbott, Billy Mack. A History of the Arden Club of Southern Methodist University from 1915 to 1942 ... [Dallas], 1951.