6/6/2011:
The University of North Dakota has a long tradition of excellence in the theater arts dating back one hundred years. When the Sock and Buskin Society was created in January of 1911, their productions were performed in whatever space was available. By 1914 the production of historical pageants became a trend in American theaters and this would lead to a summertime home for the group.
The task of writing the UND pageant was given to eighteen undergraduate students, members of the Sock and Buskin Society. The four-part production entitled, <span style="text-decoration: underline;" A Pageant of the North-West</span , featured the adventures and achievements of three French voyageurs – Raddison, La Salle and Verendrye, while the fourth part retraced the Lewis and Clark Expedition guided by Sakakawea.
To add authenticity to the pageant, an open air theater was established on the English Coulee with the stream forming a natural barrier between the audience and the stage. The dedication of the Bankside Theater took place on May 29<sup th</sup at the first production of the pageant, which involved over three hundred performers, special effects, poetry and music. It also utilized full-blooded Chippewa Indians from the Turtle Mountain Reservation to reenact the history of their forefathers, which also included original recordings of their music. The audience was wowed by the spectacle and it even gained national attention to the point where parts of it were filmed by a motion picture company, making it the first film shot in North Dakota.
The following week, on this date in 1914, the Bankside Theater held its first professional theatrical performance – the Shakespearian comedy, “As You Like It.” This was a fitting use of the area, which was named for the Bankside area of London where stood the theaters utilized by William Shakespeare’s company. The professional company presenting the play was the Coburn Players led by none other than Charles Coburn. Most people today would recognize noted Shakespearian actor as the monocled, cigar smoking millionaire who played Marilyn Monroe’s “Sugar Daddy” in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.”
After such an auspicious beginning, the Bankside Theater continued in use over the next forty years, but unpredictable weather caused it to decline in popularity, and by 1950 it was mostly abandoned. In 1963, almost fifty years after the dedication of the Bankside Theater, the Burtness Theater would rise near that original site.
Dakota Datebook written by Jim Davis
Source:
Theater History at the University of North Dakota by Loren J. Liepold 2008
1914 Dacotah, (Annual of the University of North Dakota)