Alpha Psi Omega

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Alpha Psi Omega - ΑΨΩ
Motto Seek a life useful
Established August 12, 1925
Type Honorary
Location Wichita, Kansas, USA
Colors moonlight blue and bastard amber
Question book-new.svg
 This article does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2009)

Alpha Psi Omega National Theatre Honor Society (ΑΨΩ) is an American recognition honor society recognizing participants in collegiate theatre. The Alpha cast (Alpha Psi Omega's term for "chapter") was founded at Fairmont State College (now Fairmont State University) on August 12, 1925 by professor Paul F. Opp. There are currently 977 casts nationwide, including inactive chapters.

Membership is open to those who are active in their college theatre at four-year institutions (full colleges and universities). Most casts/chapters use a "point system" for determining eligibility of membership, with a certain number of points being dealt to a certain task in theatre. With some chapters there is an induction/training process, while other chapters choose members solely on merit, where the theatre experience is considered the induction process.

Contents

[edit] Current National Officers

National President - Dr. E. Teresa Choate, Kean University
National Vice-President - Frankie Day, North Carolina A & T University
National Business Manager - Dr. Bret Jones, Wichita State University
National Web Administrator - Joel Lord (alumnus, RPI)

Delta Psi Omega Representative - Lisa Coulter, Murray State University

Regional Representatives

[edit] The History of Alpha Psi Omega and Delta Psi Omega

In the early twentieth century, interest in the dramatic arts grew tremendously on college and university campuses. By 1920, most colleges had a dramatic organization staging plays annually for the campus and the community at large. Also around this time, little theatre productions and dramatic workshops began taking place. This furthered the interest in theatre on campuses everywhere, especially in the western part of the country. At this time, several honorary groups were formed to recognize and reward exemplary student participation in those productions.

In 1921, at Fairmont State College in Fairmont, West Virginia, college theater took root. A faculty director was hired in 1923, and the Masquers were formed. The Masquers were charged with presenting a season of 4 to 5 major productions per year for students and the general public. In 1924, the Masquers began searching for a national honorary organization to join. As there was no truly national organization, Elinor B. Watson, Robert Sloan, and Fairmont faculty director Paul F. Opp researched forming such a national organization.

As a result of their research and work, a proposed national constitution was drawn up, and, on August 12, 1925, the first cast of Alpha Psi Omega members, drawn from the Masquers, was initiated. It was then decided that each chapter was to be called a, "cast," and Fairmont College became the Alpha Cast. Soon after, Marshall College in Huntington, West Virginia, expressed interest in chartering a cast of Alpha Psi Omega; they founded the Beta Cast. A member from Huntington suggested the name "Playbill" for the national magazine, which was thereafter adopted.

Over the course of the following year, eighteen more casts were founded. When the first national convention was held on December 27-28, 1926, at the Palmer House in Chicago, twenty casts had been chartered. These national conventions, also known as Grand Rehearsals, are now held once every 5 years.

Throughout the country, Alpha Psi Omega has sponsored the formation of theatre honor societies in high schools and junior colleges, with the aim of encouraging dramatic production at every step in a person's academic career. In 1929, after significant interest on the junior college level, Delta Psi Omega was formed. In 1936, at the Alpha Psi Omega Grand Rehearsal, Delta Psi Omega was officially recognized as the junior college division of Alpha Psi Omega. Today, there are over 350 Delta Psi Omega casts.

Alpha Psi Omega has enjoyed continuous national growth and, with over 550 casts, is the largest national honor society in America. Colleges and universities of recognized standing, having an established theatre program or theatre club for the purpose of producing plays, will be eligible for membership.

The business of Alpha and Delta Psi Omega is supervised by National Officers. Such names as Paul Opp, Yetta Mitchell, Donald Garner, [Jerry Henderson, Susan Cole, and James Fisher] are familiar to long-time cast members as officers in earlier years. Current officers are Teresa Choate as President, Frankie Day as Vice President, Bret Jones as Business Manager and Editor of "Playbill", and Joel Lord as Web Administrator.

History posted from the Alpha Psi Omega website [1] with permission from the webmaster.

[edit] Noteworthy Facts

 Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (October 2007)

Delta Psi Omega, Alpha Psi Omega's "Sister Society," was founded in 1929 as the official junior-college division of Alpha Psi Omega. Both societies are governed by the same National Officers. Delta Psi Omega is mainly founded at two-year institutions (junior colleges/community colleges), while Alpha Psi Omega is founded at four-year institutions (colleges or universities).

Dr. Paul F. Opp and Alpha Psi Omega were also instrumental in helping to organize the International Thespian Society, the national theatre honor society for high school students. With an original grant of $500, the society was able to help organize I.T.S. and help publish the first issues of the I.T.S. magazine, Dramatics. The International Thespian Society has since been assimulated into the Educational Theatre Association, but the influences can been seen in the similarities of both organizations' colors and initiation ceremonies.

Together, Alpha Psi Omega and Delta Psi Omega make up over 1000 chapters nationwide, both active and inactive, making Alpha Psi Omega/Delta Psi Omega the largest Greek Letter Organization in the United States.

Members are commonly referred to as "APO's." However, due to some confusion with members of the national service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega, some campuses refer to their members as "Alpha Psi's."

At the founding, Alpha Psi Omega was called "Alpha Psi Omega National Dramatic Honors Fraternity" and used theatre related terminology to refer to their society's officers and workings. Examples are:

  • President/National President - Director / Grand Director
  • Vice-President/National Vice-President - Stage Manager / Grand Stage Manager
  • Secretary-Treasurer/ National Secretary-Treasurer - Business Manager / Grand Business Manager
  • Chapter - Cast
  • Inductees - Understudies
  • National Officers - Grand Cast
  • National Convention - Grand Rehearsal

In 1997, the National Officers decided, upon pressure from anti-fraternity sentiments nationwide, to update the public titles of the society. This changed the official name of the society from "Alpha Psi Omega National Dramatic Honors Fraternity" to "Alpha Psi Omega National Theatre Honor Society."

The open motto of Alpha Psi Omega, written in ancient Greek upon their coat-of-arms, is "Seek a Life Useful" ("αιτειτε ψύχην ωφελιμον"). A secret motto is used during the Induction ceremony.

[edit] Famous Alpha Psi Omega Members

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Psi_Omega"