Jack B. Wright

 5/1/08

Student ticket endowment fund named for longtime theatre professor

LAWRENCE — A new Student Ticket Endowment Fund for the University Theatre at the University of Kansas is being named for Jack B. Wright, longtime professor of theatre and film. Income from the fund will give students at KU and Haskell Indian Nations University the opportunity to see University Theatre productions.

Friends of the Theatre, the support organization for the KU theatre program, held a benefit auction and concert April 26, raising more than $65,000 for the fund that was established by David Ambler, retired vice chancellor for student affairs, and his wife, Mary Kate. The endowment will provide complimentary tickets to students who receive financial aid or who have not previously attended a University Theatre event.

“The Jack B. Wright Student Ticket Endowment Fund is a great tribute to Jack’s many contributions to the University Theatre,” Ambler said. “The success of the FROTH benefit auction and concert will greatly enhance the ability of the endowment fund to provide support for the theatre and encourage students to attend these outstanding theatrical productions.”

Wright has been a member of the KU faculty since 1976. He served as artistic director of the University Theatre from 1976 to 1994 and was director of theatre from 1989 to 1994. Wright has more than 80 directing credits, including the current KU production of “The Shape of Things” by KU alumnus Neil LaBute. Some of his other directing credits include “Hay Fever,” “Three Sisters,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “A Little Night Music,” “The Royal Family” and Picnic.”

Wright has also directed for the Nebraska Shakespeare Festival-Omaha, where he staged “Henry IV, Part I” and “King Lear.” For the past three summers he has directed for the Creede Repertory Theatre in Colorado.

Additional contributions to the Wright Fund can be made through KU Endowment, the independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fundraising and fund-management organization for KU. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment is the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.

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