Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Frank Mack papers, Collection #C0017, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University.

Acquisition Information

Donated by Arena Stage in 2000.

Processing Information

Processed by Special Collections and Archives staff.

Historical Information

Arena Stage was an early leader in the resident theater movement. One of the first not-for-profit theaters in the United States as well as a pioneer of the regional theater movement the Arena Stage was the first regional theater to transfer a production to Broadway, the first invited by the U.S. State Department to tour behind the Iron Curtain and the first to receive a Tony Award. Co-founded in 1950 by Edward Mangum a teacher from the George Washington University, and Zelda Fichandler one of his students, Arena Stage was opened in Washington D.C. to fill the void left by the closing of the National Theater in 1948. Deriving it's name from the idea of "theater in the round," Arena Stage became one of the first resident theaters in the United States, beginning with a company of only eight actors. Today, Arena performs to over 250,000 patrons during a September to June season and employs nearly 200 theater professionals and craftpersons, who are responsible for all the costumes and scenery seen on stage. Many now- famous actors took part in Arena Stage productions during the early part of their careers. Some of them include Robert Prosky, Morgan Freeman, Dianne Weist, James Earl Jones, Kevin Kline, Christopher Guest, Yeardly Smith and Samuel L. Jackson.

A native of Kansas, Mr. Mack graduated from the University of Kansas in Lawrence in 1985 with a bachelor's degree in theatre arts then earned an MFA in directing from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg in 1988. Mr. Mack was awarded a grant from the North Carolina Arts Council, which enabled him to work in community arts administration at Durham Arts Council, Inc. He then accepted a position at Arena Stage in Washington DC as Project Manager where, in addition to general administrative duties, he worked on a three-year new play project with Anna Deavere Smith that resulted in the fall 1997 premiere of House Arrest, First Edition. Mr. Mack was then named Managing Director of the California Shakespeare Theatre in Berkeley where he helped lead a financial turn-around based on a doubling of contributed income and a substantial increase in ticket sales. Mr. Mack then served as Managing Director of Geva Theatre in Rochester, NY, a LORT B theatre before he became Managing Director of the NJ Shakespeare Festival in Madison, NJ, where he worked for one year before coming to CRT. Mr. Mack served as an institutional planning consultant for the Contemporary American Theatre Festival in Shepherdstown, WV and as a panelist for the Connecticut Commission for the Arts, and is currently serving as a facilities and business plan consultant to the African Continuum Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. He lives in Mansfield Center with his wife, Sarah Delia, and their two children Jason, Rebecca and their dog Chili.

Scope and Content

Collecton containes correspondence, memos, reports and other papers generated by Frank Mack.

Arrangement

Organized by subject.

Related Material

Special Collections and Archives holds the Arena Stage records.

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Arena Stage (Organization : Washington, D.C.)

Subjects:

• Theater--Washington (D.C.)

Adjunct Descriptive Data