Greeley, Colorado
Dr. Mary Schuttler, who was inducted as a Thespian in the late 1970s, taught theatre from 1984-94 at Grosse Pointe (Michigan) South High School after graduation from the University of Michigan. At the time the school only had an after-school theatre program, so Dr. Schuttler created a theatre class during her second year there and eventually ended up teaching five theatre classes.
Members of her school’s Thespian Troupe 49 performed twice on the main stage at the Thespian Festival and the program was selected to participate in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Dr. Schuttler moved to the University of Northern Colorado at Greeley in 1994, where at the time of her Hall of Fame induction she was a professor and the coordinator of theatre education. During her tenure at UNC, the theatre education program grew from fifteen to fifty majors over eleven years.
To help theatre education students at UNC transition from academia to the professional world prior to graduation, Dr. Schuttler created a network of contacts through the Colorado Thespian chapter. This arrangement eases students into their profession by having them participate in chapter activities while providing staffing support to the Thespian organization.
Dr. Schuttler was named favorite professor in 1996 by the UNC Mortar Board, received the 2001 UNC Award for Excellence in Faculty Service, and was selected Higher Education Theatre Educator of the Year by the Alliance for Colorado Theatre in 2001.
For EdTA she has served as a Michigan chapter board member, the Colorado chapter secretary, and EdTA Board of Directors vice president and president from 1996-1999.
According to Thomas McNally, artistic director of Little Theatre of the Rockies, Dr. Schuttler’s efforts in the UNC theatre education program are reflected in the fact that one out of every three Colorado drama teachers is a UNC graduate.
