One of senior Pam Freedy’s biggest challenges this year will be leading UNH’s only student-run theatre and drama group known as Mask and Dagger.
The group, founded in 1923, is the oldest student organization on campus, and puts on several big productions each year, as well as smaller “second stage” productions. The group also predates UNH’s Department of Theatre and Dance by over 50 years, according to the Mask and Dagger website.
Freedy said that Mask and Dagger draws crowds from mostly friends and family, as well as the UNH community.
“The majority of our audience comes from the college campus,” Freedy said. “We do advertise to towns and community members, along with high schools in Dover and Portsmouth, so we do get other community members to come as well.”
Everything Mask and Dagger does is completely student-produced, run and directed. The group generally puts on three or four shows a year (there will be three shows this year), usually beginning in early November.
The first show this year will be the Spitfire Grill, which is a musical that will open on Thursday, Nov. 12.
As far as side projects go, the group currently has a lower-budget project in the works that, according to Freedy, should generate interest from people around campus.
“The show doesn’t get a full budget or a full cast,” Freedy said. “The cast is usually smaller too, about five or six performers. So we have that going this year as well.”
David D’Agostino, Mask and Dagger’s vice president, said that a great way for the group to really become known in not only Durham, but surrounding towns as well, is to thoroughly advertise their shows in as many places as possible.
“We advertise the shows that we’re doing by going out and plastering the towns,” D’Agostino said. “We have people go out and just plaster everywhere in Newmarket, Durham, Portsmouth, and Dover.”
He also said local businesses trade with the organization to have their ads put in the play bill when the shows debut. Sometimes they receive some compensation, but usually they just trade advertising space.
“It’s a great way for the businesses to get known, and that’s kind of how it’s done in the theatre world, so it’s perfect,” he said.
Freedy added that around campus the group advertises shows and other events by putting up posters, setting up table tents and info tables in the MUB the week before a show, and also by word of mouth, which she said is actually a big thing.
This year, Mask and Dagger has started a new community outreach program, going to local public libraries and doing storytelling to younger kids about drama and theatre to those who are interested. They have made about four trips so far to the Portsmouth and Newmarket public libraries.
“It’s a new thing we’ve started this year,” Freedy said. “We’ve had at least four or five different events now in Portsmouth and Newmarket where we talk to kids about drama activities.”
Susan Brough at the Portsmouth Public Library is the supervisor of Children’s Services, and is the organizer behind the Mask and Dagger weekly readings at the library.
The general membership meets every Thursday in MUB room 332, at 12:45 p.m. The executive board meets on Fridays to discuss smaller projects and future organization events.
D’Agostino said that the group holds play practices typically on five or six days of the week for about three to four hours daily.
“It’s a great way to get involved,” D’ Agostino said. “We have a lot of fun. Not everyone here is a theatre major – I’m not a theatre major. You don’t have to be a theatre major to get involved in this organization.”
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