"Prof. Will", as he's known around Beantown, has been doing theatre, including puppetry, in these parts for a quarter century or more. His theatre adventures began back in his hometown of Madison CT in the early '50s, as part of the Nutmeg Players. That still viable community theatre traces its roots to the peripatetic Jitney Players who were headquartered there on the Connecticut shore in the early '30s. Active in theatre at Mount Hermon where he graduated in '58, Will became hyper-active at DePauw University (Greencastle IN), where he managed a student experimental theater, directed an opera, played various minor roles, and still managed to graduate Phi Beta Kappa in 1962.
After studing Psycholgy at Yale for a year as an NIMH Fellow headed for a PhD, he switched to the Theatre program at Wesleyan (Middletown CT) as a grad assistant, earning an MA for Theatre in Production in 1965. Hanging out for the rest of the 60's at Cornell, he spent four years studying and doing theatre and film, but never submitted his thesis, a chronicle of the relationship between Broadway and Hollywood in the decades before and after talkies took over. He spent four years there managing the studio theatre, created several experimental productions, house-managed film series, as well as acting now and then, including a favorite role as Lanthorn Leatherhead "Master of Motions", the fairground puppeteer in Ben Jonson's "Bart'l'mew Faire"
Leaving Ithaca, the Prof. taught at Cal. State/Long Beach during the year Reagan shut down state campuses to stifle dissent, then returned East to teach technical theatre for two years at Rutgers. When New Jersey rejected their first income tax and the University budgets were slashed, Will decided he'd been in school too long and came up to Boston to concentrate on puppetry, and became a Punch Professor.
Becoming part of the technical staff at the still-missed Orson Welles Complex, it wasn't long however before he was back to teaching at Pine Manor College in Brookline, building scenery, directing musicals, and lecturing on Theatre for Young Audiences. He also continued performing various versions of the traditional "Tragical Comedie and Comical Tragedie of Punch and Judy" which, as Boston's senior Punch Professor, Will does to this day. Since then he's taught at Boston Conservatory, Wheelock College, and Newton North High, and now directs the Gateway Puppeteers in Brookline, an adult special needs group.
In the '70s and '80s he worked on the first decade of FIRST NIGHT, ran two editions of Summer StART at Fort Point Channel, and then for the Cambridge Arts Council was Technical Director for River Festival, while supervising Arts Lottery projects and other community efforts.
He's been a member of the A.T.A., N.E.T.C. etc, and currently belongs to the Puppeteers of America and the Boston Area Guild, Ch#9 thereof. He was also on the advisory board of the late lamented Boston Computer Society, and can be found at the MIT Electronics Flea Market and BMUG meetings to this day. His reviews of Boston-area theatre can be found on AisleSay.com (a national compendium), Larry Stark's Theater Mirror ( a local resource), and his own site (this one) ON THE AISLE.
Program Bio
Will Stackman has been doing theatre for fifty years or so, the
last quarter-century around Boston.
He builds scenery, directs shows, and wrights plays. He also posts
reviews on AisleSay.com, Larry Stark's TheaterMirror.com, and
ON THE AISLE. As always, this current effort is dedicated
to the memory of the Jitney Players.