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The copyright and related rights status of this collection have not been evaluated (See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/)

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Susan Powers Kennelly Arena Stage scrapbook, C0528, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Donated by Thomas Kennelly, husband of Susan Powers Kennelly, in August 2023.

Processing Information

Processing completed by Meghan Glasbrenner in February 2025. Finding aid completed by Meghan Glasbrenner in March 2025.

Biographical and Historical Information

Susan Powers (later known as Susan Powers Kennelly) was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1937. She received a full tuition scholarship to attend the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. for her undergraduate studies where she majored in theatre, studying under the university's drama department founder Rev. Gilbert V. Hartke. In the early 1960s she joined Arena Stage as Director of Public Relations and later formed her own public relations firm, establishing relationships with folk singers and musicians performing in Washington, D.C. throughout the 1960s-1970s. In 1964, she married Justice Department lawyer Thomas Anthony Kennelly, with the ceremony being officiated by Father Hartke. Susan later left public relations and began a new career as a travel consultant. After raising their three children in Washington, D.C., Susan and Thomas moved to Napa, California in 1994 where Susan spent 18 years serving as director of tours and travel for the Fromm Institute for Lifelong Learning at the University of San Francisco. Susan passed away on June 5, 2022 at the age of 84.

One of the first not-for-profit theatres in the United States, as well as a pioneer of the regional theatre movement, Arena Stage was the first regional theatre to transfer a production to Broadway ( The Great White Hope , 1967), the first invited by the U.S. State Department to tour the Soviet Union, and the first to receive a Tony Award. During the 1960s, Arena garnered international renown in its new space: the Arena Stage Theatre. The new building, located at Sixth Street and Maine Avenue SW, was the first playhouse built in Washington, D.C. since 1895. Today, Arena Stage performs to over 250,000 patrons during a September to June season and employs nearly 200 theatre professionals.

Scope and Content

Scrapbook of newspaper and periodical clippings covering Arena Stage's 1963-1964 season, compiled by Director of Public Relations Susan Powers Kennelly. The front inside cover included two loose letters, one addressed to J. Burke Knapp and signed by President Lyndon Johnson and one addressed to Zelda Fichandler and signed by First Lady Lady Bird Johnson. The inside back cover included a pile of loose newspaper clippings, most pertaining to Arena Stage productions, and Arena Stage programs for The Front Page, Battle Dream, Hotel Paradiso, The Affair, Taming of the Shrew, Dark of the Moon , and The Devils /. These items were removed and placed in two labeled folders.

Arrangement

This is a single item collection. Loose paper items were removed from the scrapbook and stored in two labeled folders.

Related Material

The Special Collections Research Center holds other collections related to Arena Stage, including the Arena Stage records , Zelda Fichandler papers , and Thomas C. Fichandler papers .

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Arena Stage (Organization : Washington, D.C.)
• Correspondence
• Fichandler, Zelda, 1924-2016
• Johnson, Lady Bird, 1912-2007
• Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973
• Knapp, J. Burke (Joseph Burke), 1913-2009
• Newspapers
• Performing arts
• Scrapbooks
• Theater
• Theater -- Washington (D.C.)
• Theater programs