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SARAH K. TAMES THE HUBER G. BUEHLER CHAIR DIRECTOR OF THEATRE, INSTRUCTOR IN THEATRE AND ENGLISH
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hen Sarah Tames joined the faculty in 1983, her arrival was notable. Some of the School’s male teachers, who were the stuff of legend on campus, were still adjusting to the School’s decade-old move to coeducation. Tames’s youthful spirit, exuberance, and knack for establishing instant rapport distinguished her in the Hotchkiss landscape. Furthermore, her route to the faculty appointment was a bit unusual. Tames’s first immersion in theatre occurred at Howard University, where she majored in acting and directing. Leaving there after two years, she acted in professional theatre, sang in a rock band, worked in a gallery, and did other jobs to make ends meet. It was Hotchkiss that helped her to return to college. In 1977, the School needed a choreographer for its production of the Neil Simon-Burt Bacharach musical, Promises, Promises. Tames got the job … and a new direction. She completed her undergraduate degree at Amherst and then earned a Master’s degree in English from Rutgers. Hired to teach English at Hotchkiss, Tames went on to chair that department for 13 years and the Theatre Department for 13 years. “She is an incredible English teacher,” says Marilyn “Sam” Coughlin, who held the Audrey Meyer Mars Chair in English until her retirement. “She has a tremendous ability to perceive nuances of meaning in writing and to articulate them. She also has a fine sense of craft for her students. She expects craft in writing.” As the Huber G. Buehler Chair and Instructor in Theatre and English, Tames has taught theatre courses and American literature, as well as senior electives whose topics have ranged from Irish literature to contemporary dramatic literature. Further igniting her passion for teaching in the past three years have been the intellectually hungry preps and lower mids in the Humanities Program. With these young scholars, she has shared the wonders of commedia dell’arte masks and a mix of Renaissance philosophy and dramatic monologues from The Merchant of Venice. Over the years, her sabbatical leaves have been – surprise, surprise! – busman’s holidays. She’s used these opportunities to
steep herself in theater, visiting repertory companies and theatre festivals, studying classical training in theatre, and acting in New York. Singing with the Gospel Choir on campus, sometimes as a soloist, keeps her “vocal instrument working.” Her voice, meaningful and measured, is well remembered by former students. Recalls Kyle Boynton ’02, “She has this unique combination of being able to speak exceptionally well and being able to add drama to her voice. She has this great sense of timing – she always says the right thing at the most perfect moment.” Away from the classroom, her voice has been heard and appreciated on stage. Working for almost three decades in the capacity of director, producer, costumer, actor, or a combination thereof, she has brought precision and professionalism to some 60 School productions. During her tenure, the Hotchkiss Dramatic Association has presented acclaimed productions of The Laramie Project and For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf, and jazzy musicals, including Guys and Dolls and Into the Woods. Tames says her main task in teaching is reconnecting students with their natural acting abilities. “From birth to age eight, most kids are brilliant actors,” she says, “because they can imagine doing it all. Then they get socialized, and they learn how to get rigid, and they forget how to react to something. So my job is to help students rediscover their imaginations.” In 2009 Tames received the Lufkin Prize, an annual honor reserved for the faculty member who has made a significant contribution to the character development of students through his or her example – in sum, serving as a moral compass. In her acceptance speech, she reflected on the honor, as well as the responsibility. Here are her remarks to an all-School Auditorium on that day.
IMMEASURABLE BEAUTY: LUFKIN PRIZE SPEECH By Sarah Tames Currently the whole question of what we teach and how we teach it is very much alive here at Hotchkiss. Your teachers talk about it in faculty meetings, and discuss it in department meetings or at the lunch table; we gather in Monahan with an open laptop and overhead projections, writing and thinking S u m m e r
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