Playwrights, Composers, Lyricists and Authors
John Baldwin
John Baldwin was Professor Emeritus of Theatre at Michigan State University. He had a Ph.D. from MSU, an MA in Theater Arts from the University of California at Los Angeles and a BA in Speech and Drama from Albion College, Albion, MI. He also studied theatre at the State University of Iowa, Wayne State University and the University of London. Prior to his death in 2006, he had been married to his wife Kay for over 50 years and together they had two children and three granddaughters.
After three years in the Navy he first taught theatre at Manchester College, North Manchester, Indiana before coming to Michigan State University in 1961. He joined the faculty there in 1964 and served variously as Business Manager of the Theatre, Director of Youth Theater, Senior Staff Play Director and Chairman of the Department as well as teaching courses in Theatre Arts. During this period he directed 31 plays, musicals and operas for University and community audiences. His productions of Julius Caesar and Guys and Dolls were given Best Play awards by the Lansing State Journal. Also during this time he was technical advisor to the Opera Company of Greater Lansing and participated in the staging of many of their operas including Carmen, Madame Butterfly, Krutnava, and Fidelio. For the MSU School of Music he staged Gounod’s Faust, Gianni Schicchi and The Abduction from the Seraglio among others.
Pioneer Drama Service has published three of Dr. Baldwin’s plays. His Metrics Can Be Fun!, as well as his adaptations of Pinocchio and Heidi, have been produced throughout the United States.
All in all he wrote some 30 plays and musicals for young audiences and performed them at MSU as well as on tour for over one million children in the Michigan area. His Metrics Can Be Fun! alone has been seen by some 60,000 elementary students and was performed at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC on April 29 and 30, 1977.
Professionally Dr. Baldwin had worked as Publicity Director and then Stage Manager of the Will-O-Way Playhouse in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and as founder and owner of the Enchanted Hills Playhouse in Syracuse, Indiana. At the latter he acted in and directed plays for the first six years of its existence. He had also performed professionally at the Boarshead Theatre in Lansing, Michigan — most recently in Our Town.
He was past president of the Michigan Alliance for Arts Education, the Michigan Theatre Association and was a member of the Arts Advisory Committee to the Michigan State Board of Education. Dr. Baldwin was a board member of the Summer Circle Theatre, an outdoor theatre on the campus of Michigan State University, and the Riverwalk Theatre, a community theatre in Lansing, Michigan, where he recently directed Thornton Wilder’s Our Town and It’s Me! It’s Me! It’s Francis Scott Key!, his musical celebrating the writing of the “Star Spangled Banner.” To fulfill the requirements of a grant to Riverwalk he directed and performed in his adaptation of A Christmas Carol for various retirement centers in the Lansing area. Dr. Baldwin received three best directing awards from this theatre.
Dr. Baldwin's play, Strang! King of All the Nation, was first produced in 1982 at Michigan State University and later by the Riverwalk Theatre and tells the tragic story of James J. Strang, a Mormon leader who pronounced himself King of his followers on Beaver Island in Lake Michigan in the mid-1800s.
After three years in the Navy he first taught theatre at Manchester College, North Manchester, Indiana before coming to Michigan State University in 1961. He joined the faculty there in 1964 and served variously as Business Manager of the Theatre, Director of Youth Theater, Senior Staff Play Director and Chairman of the Department as well as teaching courses in Theatre Arts. During this period he directed 31 plays, musicals and operas for University and community audiences. His productions of Julius Caesar and Guys and Dolls were given Best Play awards by the Lansing State Journal. Also during this time he was technical advisor to the Opera Company of Greater Lansing and participated in the staging of many of their operas including Carmen, Madame Butterfly, Krutnava, and Fidelio. For the MSU School of Music he staged Gounod’s Faust, Gianni Schicchi and The Abduction from the Seraglio among others.
Pioneer Drama Service has published three of Dr. Baldwin’s plays. His Metrics Can Be Fun!, as well as his adaptations of Pinocchio and Heidi, have been produced throughout the United States.
All in all he wrote some 30 plays and musicals for young audiences and performed them at MSU as well as on tour for over one million children in the Michigan area. His Metrics Can Be Fun! alone has been seen by some 60,000 elementary students and was performed at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC on April 29 and 30, 1977.
Professionally Dr. Baldwin had worked as Publicity Director and then Stage Manager of the Will-O-Way Playhouse in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and as founder and owner of the Enchanted Hills Playhouse in Syracuse, Indiana. At the latter he acted in and directed plays for the first six years of its existence. He had also performed professionally at the Boarshead Theatre in Lansing, Michigan — most recently in Our Town.
He was past president of the Michigan Alliance for Arts Education, the Michigan Theatre Association and was a member of the Arts Advisory Committee to the Michigan State Board of Education. Dr. Baldwin was a board member of the Summer Circle Theatre, an outdoor theatre on the campus of Michigan State University, and the Riverwalk Theatre, a community theatre in Lansing, Michigan, where he recently directed Thornton Wilder’s Our Town and It’s Me! It’s Me! It’s Francis Scott Key!, his musical celebrating the writing of the “Star Spangled Banner.” To fulfill the requirements of a grant to Riverwalk he directed and performed in his adaptation of A Christmas Carol for various retirement centers in the Lansing area. Dr. Baldwin received three best directing awards from this theatre.
Dr. Baldwin's play, Strang! King of All the Nation, was first produced in 1982 at Michigan State University and later by the Riverwalk Theatre and tells the tragic story of James J. Strang, a Mormon leader who pronounced himself King of his followers on Beaver Island in Lake Michigan in the mid-1800s.
