Theatre News
Creative Life Inspires M.F.A. Support through Bequest Elizabeth Rhodes Holloway’s career has taken her far from her roots on Kenmore Plantation in Pointe Coupee Parish near Maringouin, Louisiana. An M.F.A. graduate of the Yale School of Drama in design and production with a B.A. in acting from Newcomb College, Holloway has travelled the U.S., extensively working in theatre, opera, and ballet. Holloway is one of the founding members of the Missouri Repertory Theatre (now known as the Kansas City Repertory Theatre) at the University of Missouri—Kansas City (UMKC), where she served as the first professional production stage manager. Under Holloway’s professorial leadership, the first stage management course in the country was developed at UMKC. Her lifetime achievements include work at many of the great artistic venues in the world, including The Festival of Two Worlds in Italy, The Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, American Ballet Theatre in New York, American National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the New York Shakespeare Festival, the Metropolitan Opera, and Broadway. She has collaborated with creative intellects that include Joseph Papp, John Houseman, Tony—award winning designer Oliver Smith, James Earl Jones, Edward Albee, Estelle Parsons, Rudolf Nureyev, and Franco Zeffirelli, to whom she was a special assistant for lighting for the opening of the new Met. Although Holloway maintains residences in Manhattan and France, she has never forgotten her home state and has settled down in Baton Rouge, where she has served for several years as a prominent member of the Swine Palace Board of Directors. Through a generous bequest in her will, Holloway will be endowing a support fund for M.F.A. students in the Department of Theatre. “We theatre people are interpreters–of the playwright, the composer–and as such, we establish a special relationship with each audience, for them and for the performer. ‘Live theatre’ is a moment in time, unique, ephemeral, exacting, then gone– each performance different, distinct. LSU Theatre’s program is taking a noteworthy place among universities with professional Equity theatre companies. Establishing these support funds for M.F.A. students will give more our young people their moments,’ lengthening for them–and ultimately for us–that brief, yet so special, experience that is captivating live theatre,” notes Holloway on the significance of her gift to LSU Theatre. “This is ‘giving back’–to my parents, James Madison and Elizabeth Mandell Holloway, and to my home state.” Since her return to Baton Rouge, Holloway has established yet another career for herself–professional beekeeper. She raises 38
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Upper Left Elizabeth R. Holloway on LSU Theatre’s set of A Cry of Players (Spring 2010). Above Kristin Sosnowsky, Interim Chair of LSU Theatre and Managing Director of Swine Palace, Elizabeth R. Holloway, and Michael Tick, former Chair of LSU Theatre.
bees, produces honey which goes to some of Louisiana’s finest dining establishments, makes beeswax candles, and has developed a caramelized honey which has the Food Network buzzing. Article by Jacquelyn Craddock
To join Elizabeth Holloway in supporting the performing arts at the LSU College of Music & Dramatic Arts through a named gift or donation, please contact Jacquelyn Schulz Craddock at 225.578.9277 or jcraddock@lsu.edu.
A charitable bequest in your Will is among the easiest ways to make a generous donation to the College of Music & Dramatic Arts. You may find it the most appropriate way to establish an endowed chair, professorship, fellowship, or scholarship. Or, your bequest may be used to underwrite the most critical needs of the College. In your bequest, you can (a) identify a specific amount you wish to leave to LSU, (b) state a percentage of your estate, or (c) note that the remainder of your estate is to benefit LSU.
For more information on creating your charitable bequest for LSU, contact Steven Covington at scov@lsu.edu orr 225.578.9268. * Please be sure to consult your attorney and financial advisor on your estate planning needs.