Director-Designer Team
Husband and Wife Team to Prepare the Worthington Bicentennial Play
Bronwynn Hopton will direct this summer’s Worthington bicentennial production of "The Scioto Company." Husband, David, is set and costume designer for the production.
Theatre has always been a family affair with Bronwynn and David. Bronwynn has been a career teacher/director of drama at Thomas Worthington since 1973. David, a former O.S.U. arts administrator, has enjoyed a second career as a theatrical technician and designer at the school. Bronwynn has directed 180 productions there, and David has designed 92 of these over 18 years of involvement. Bronwynn has also directed for the Ohio State University, the Columbus Symphony and the Weathervane Playhouse of Newark.
Bronwynn recalls as a child creating her own dramatizations for family occasions. Theatre has always been the major focus of her life. She earned an M.F.A. degree in acting at Ohio State where she performed sixteen lead roles in major productions. David was smitten with theatre his senior year at Worthington High School when he played Dr. Gibbs in Laura Tobias’ production of "Our Town." Before he was a freshman in college he was a high school apprentice for O.S.U.’s Stadium Theatre where he also appeared in "The Lark." As a student he appeared in 20 productions for OSU and Children’s Hospital, culminating in the lead in OSU’s summer theatre production of "Beckett" in 1969. David holds a B.A. in speech, an M.A. in the History of Art and a Ph.d. in College Adminstration with emphasis in the Arts.
In a career in which the Ohio Education Association reports many high school teachers burn out after four years, Bronwynn has thrived. She has always been an innovator. Early in her career she created a children’s theatre tour of elementary schools each spring. She created publicly performed workshop productions while she also coached the fall play and choreographed Joel Haney and Elaine Hottenroth musicals. Her theatre direction earned her a 1983 PTA "Teacher of the Year Award." When Elaine retired, Bronwynn assumed the directorship of the winter musical productions. By 1988, she was inducted into the teacher hall of fame. In 1989, she created the concept of Theatre Repertory for high school; a do-able season of plays students produce for grade credit in courses which are repeatable. For this she won an "Innovation in Education" Award. At this point her career went into high gear, producing an average of 10 productions a year.
David recalls designing Bronwynn’s second production, "Kind Lady" when there was no one else to do it. Stage design was repeated randomly during her first two decades of directing, but became a necessity once Theatre Repertory was created. Over the years he has also been active creating stage paintings, furniture, props, wearable horse heads, a talking camel, a steel breast plate for Joan of Arc, Martian musical instruments, a mummy case and other stage items too numerous to mention. As a stage designer, he says he draws heavily on his studies in Art History.
Bronwynn has continued to perform despite a heavy teaching load. In the 70’s she returned to OSU to play the lead in Roy Bowen’s "Skin of Our Teeth." She has appeared in T.V. commercials, at the Ohio State Fair, at the Cambridge Barn Theatre and at a Columbus dinner theatre. She did the leads in two productions of the Worthington Stage III in the early 80’s. She also toured an educational series entitled "Shakespeare’s Women" with author Keesa Sproat, sponsored by the Ohio Arts and Humanities Councils.
The Hoptons have also enjoyed performing together over the years.
They played Joan and St. Dominic in the O.S.U.’s School of music’s production of Honnegar’s Joan at the Stake. When Bronwynn was first out of College they created a children’s theatre company which produced works for children in mime, dance and theatre and produced 300 performances in the Columbus area. In the 80’s and 90’s, they collaborated with Martha Harter Buckalew in the creation of The Chamber Theatre Consort. As actors for this group they toured 60 musical reader’s theatre performances around Ohio featuring the lives of famous women musicians.
David has also professionally produced theatre. While at O.S.U. he doubled his administrative duties to serve as Associate Director of Mershon Auditorium. In that capacity he collaborated with Evan Whallon and the Columbus Symphony and the O.S.U. School of Music to produce two operas, "Salome" featuring the renowned La Scala star Grace Bumbry and "AIDA" with internationally famous Lorna Haywood on the Mershon Great Artist Series.
Miami University of Ohio awarded Bronwynn their "Outstanding High School Teacher of 1994 award. In 1995, Bronwynn’s high school program was picked as a top 10 school in United States theatre education. This honor included an opportunity to take a cast to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in the summer of 1996.
The Hopton’s have greatly enjoyed working with hundreds of students over the years. Many have gone on to teaching and acting careers of their own. They look forward to collaborating with former student and full time professional playwright, Brian Burgess Clark (class of 79) who has written the bicentennial play "The Scioto Company." Former student, now professional lighting designer, Chris Lau (class of 80) will also be returning as lighting designer for the production. Other former graduates are expected to appear in the cast.
"The Scioto Company" home page
Playwright Biography: Brian Burgess Clark
Performance Schedule
