UMKC Career
In the Fall of 1954, the University of Kansas City (KCU) hired Dr. McIlrath as the Director of the Playhouse and Head of the Department of Public Speaking, Radio and Theatre. Dr. Felicia Londré, a friend and theatre colleague of Dr. McIlrath, described this department as one “that combined speech, theatre, and radio towards a degree in English” (Harrison Londré, Felicia. “The Kansas City Stage: A Personal View of Our Theatre.” Charles N. Kimball Lecture, Western Historical Manuscript Collection- Kansas City, October 17, 2007. Speech).
Dr. McIlrath gradually worked to expand the university’s theatre program. She increased theatre productions and brought in theatre professionals to work on productions and serve as visiting professors. She also hired professional actors to star in academic productions so that students would have the opportunity to work with them.
Dr. McIlrath wrote that to achieve “sustained high-level acting,” actors needed “love of people of all ages, countries, and economic backgrounds” (McIlrath, Patricia. Interview with Larisa Solovieva. MS0293, McIlrath Collection. Box 3 Folder 24. LaBudde Special Collections, University of Missouri- Kansas City. Undated). To expose students, professional actors, and audiences to a variety of cultures, she brought theatre professionals “from all over the world” to work at the Missouri Repertory Theatre (MRT) and teach in the KCU (later UMKC) Theatre Department (McIlrath, Patricia. Interview with Larisa Solovieva. MS0293, McIlrath Collection. Box 3 Folder 24. LaBudde Special Collections, University of Missouri- Kansas City. Undated). For example, in 1982 Chinese actor Ying Ruocheng came to UMKC to teach and direct. According to Dr. Felicia Londré, he “gave the students a crash course in Chinese culture” while directing The Family by Cao Yu. The resulting production was “shown on Chinese television” and, Dr. Londré said, “taxi drivers and food vendors from Beijing to small villages” saw UMKC students perform (Londré, Felicia. A Cookbook of Memories. MS0293, McIlrath Collection. Box 3 Folder 21. LaBudde Special Collections, University of Missouri- Kansas City. January 2006).
The theatre program continued growing as the university went through changes. In 1963, the University of Kansas City became part of the University of Missouri system as the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC). Dr. McIlrath wrote, “The University Playhouse, which has been in existence since 1933 on our campus and since 1948 in its present structure, continues with the same staff and on the same site as in its former existence as a part of the former University of Kansas City” (McIlrath, Patricia. Letter from Patricia McIlrath to the John F. Kennedy Center for The Performing Arts. MS0293, McIlrath Collection. Box 7 Folder 17. LaBudde Special Collections, University of Missouri- Kansas City. November 23, 1964). Joining the University of Missouri System meant that the new UMKC was now a public university, and the Missouri Legislature would have to approve any large-scale changes or building projects. This would become very important for later university theatre projects.
In 1972, the Department of Theatre was finally created as an independent academic department within the College of Arts and Sciences. The Department of Theatre reached another significant milestone in 1982, when it gained accreditation to offer “the Master of Fine Arts Degree in Acting/Directing and Design/Technology” (Einig, Anne. Dr. Patricia McIlrath Founder and Artistic Director of the Missouri Repertory Theatre. 2000. University of Missouri- Kansas City, Master’s Dissertation, 130). According to Anne Einig, this furthered Dr. McIlrath’s goals to combine academic and professional theatre (Einig, Anne. Dr. Patricia McIlrath Founder and Artistic Director of the Missouri Repertory Theatre. 2000. University of Missouri- Kansas City, Master’s Dissertation, 130-131).
Dr. McIlrath was known as a charismatic and caring leader by her colleagues, employees, students, and Kansas City community members. Former student Ken Jon Booth recalled an occasion in the mid 1960s when Dr. McIlrath gave him $20 (equivalent to around $200 today) when his family was having financial trouble. In a letter Booth wrote to McIlrath, he told her, “You may be pleased to know that in the past six years, I’ve had the opportunity to pass your twenty dollars on to young people who have for one reason or another needed and deserved a little respite from the wolf at the door. I’ve thought of you and your thoughtfulness each time and will do so in the future when the circumstances warrant” (Booth, Ken Jon. Letter from Ken Jon Booth to Patricia McIlrath. MS0293, McIlrath Collection. Box 7 Folder 20. LaBudde Special Collections, University of Missouri- Kansas City. August 12, 1973).
One of Dr. McIlrath’s former employees, Maxine Sifers, said in 1999 that Dr. McIlrath “was the most generous person in the world. Both with her time, her money and gifts. On opening nights she would send telegrams to everyone and it was all her own money. She would send gifts to everyone, and flowers, and she always covered everyone” (Einig, Anne. Dr. Patricia McIlrath Founder and Artistic Director of the Missouri Repertory Theatre. 2000. University of Missouri- Kansas City, Master’s Dissertation, 155).
Actress Jeanine Hutchings, also speaking in 1999, said that Dr. McIlrath “never said you are wrong, she would instead ask questions, leading you to discover the right answer, and after about the fourth question you knew and went ‘Aha!’” (Einig, Anne. Dr. Patricia McIlrath Founder and artistic Director of the Missouri Repertory Theatre. 2000. University of Missouri- Kansas City, Master’s Dissertation, 158).
The positive atmosphere of the UMKC Department of Theatre was reflected by the annual “Macademy Awards” which department and MRT staff organized in 1982, 1983, 1985, and 1986. Dr. Felicia Londré, who helped organize the awards, said, “We were playful back then,” and described the awards as “full of in-jokes about productions” (Londré, Felicia. Mock Academy Awards Note. UMKC Theatre Department Collection. KC3-25-1). The ceremony included awards such as “Most Achieved on the Lowest Budget Award” and “Best Ability to Stuff Envelopes While Talking and Eating Chocolates Award,” as well as awards for “Best Actor award” and “Best Stage Manager Award” (The First Annual Macademy Awards. UMKC Theatre Department Collection. KC3-25-1. April 30, 1982). The presentation of the awards was interspersed with performances such as “Bozos in MeRTland” and “Red Casein and the Dry Pigment Boys (A Scene Shop Chorus Line)” (The First Annual Macademy Awards. UMKC Theatre Department Collection. KC3-25-1. April 30, 1982). These awards seem to indicate a friendly and close-knit environment within the UMKC Department of Theatre.
Late in her career, Dr. McIlrath traveled to China and the Soviet Union to learn about their cultures and theatres and to meet theatre professionals. Because of Dr. McIlrath’s health difficulties, her doctor had advised her to bring her sister, Jeanne Finter, a high school teacher, with her while traveling. The first trips took place in 1978 and 1982 respectively, at the height of the Cold War. The sisters were able to see parts of the world which were usually inaccessible to Americans of the time. Londré later remembered that China “had so long been closed to the West” and that McIlrath and Finter’s visit “was considered rather daring” (Londré, Felicia. A Cookbook of Memories. MS0293, McIlrath Collection. Box 3 Folder 21. LaBudde Special Collections, University of Missouri- Kansas City. January 2006).
The sisters traveled to China as part of a group led by Dr. Edmunds Grey Dimond. Dr. Dimond frequently took groups of medical workers and other professionals to learn about Chinese industries. Jeanne Finter and Dr. McIlrath had to fill out lengthy via applications, submit their resumes, and compose a typed statement on their purpose for traveling to China to be granted admission (Jeanne Finter and Patricia McIlrath China Visa Applications. MS0293, McIlrath Collection. Box 3 Folder 25. LaBudde Special Collections, University of Missouri- Kansas City. May 29-30, 1978).
The trip to Russia was partially organized by Eugene Trani, then the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at UMKC, who had traveled to Russia as a Fulbright scholar and first proposed by the VAAP, also referred to as the all-Union Agency for Copyright, which was “the copyright agency for USSR” (McIlrath, Patricia. Russian Trip Speech. Unsorted materials, Patricia McIlrath Papers. University Archives, University of Missouri - Kansas City. Undated). According to Dr. McIlrath’s recollections, the trip was highly controlled. She said that,
“My sister and I were taken in cars everywhere. We had an interpreter always. We were never given any time to go off on our own at any time. We saw what they wanted us to see; we heard what they wanted us to hear. That did not rule out value and pleasure in the trip; it only means I cannot claim any experience as truly representative” (McIlrath, Patricia. Russian Trip Speech. Unsorted materials, Patricia McIlrath Papers. University Archives, University of Missouri- Kansas City. Undated).
During the trip to Russia, Dr. McIlrath and Jeanne Finter saw “23 plays in 12 days” (McIlrath, Patricia. Russian Trip Speech. Unsorted materials, Patricia McIlrath Papers. University Archives, University of Missouri- Kansas City. Undated). The sisters believed that their hotel room was “bugged” and didn’t feel comfortable expressing their true opinions of the plays, even in private (McIlrath, Patricia. Russian Trip Speech. Unsorted materials, Patricia McIlrath Papers. University Archives, University of Missouri- Kansas City. Undated). Despite the tension, McIlrath and Finter enjoyed some of the plays and formed strong bonds with their Russian hosts. When Jeanne Finter passed away in 1985, Dr. McIlrath informed those they had met in Russia. In a letter to Valerie Ivanov, a VAAP employee, Dr. McIlrath wrote that Jeanne had wanted to visit Russia again and assuring Ivanov that, “She was so especially fond of you all, and you of her, that I wanted you to know” (McIlrath, Patricia. Letter from Patricia McIlrath to Valerie Ivanov. Unsorted materials, Patricia McIlrath Papers. University Archives, University of Missouri- Kansas City. January 2, 1985).
Ivanov and Vassily Sitnikov, vice president of the Soviet Union’s copyright agency VAAP , responded with a joint letter in which they said that Jeanne’s death “put all of us who knew and loved her to grief” and assured Dr. McIlrath that “the only consolation is that she will continue to live in our memories” (Ivanov, Valerie and Sitnikov, Vassily. Letter from Valerie Ivanov and Vassily Sitnikov to Patricia McIlrath. Unsorted materials, Patricia McIlrath Papers. University Archives, University of Missouri- Kansas City. January 2, 1985). Dr. McIlrath worked to bring various Russian theatre professionals to Kansas City to direct and teach but found the process difficult.
Dr. McIlrath wrote to her friend and Russian translator Maya Goreyeva, “I really did not conceive that it would take as long as it has to get this going (McIlrath, Patricia. Letter from Patricia McIlrath to Maya Gordeyeva. Unsorted materials, Patricia McIlrath Papers. University Archives, University of Missouri - Kansas City. May 3, 1983). Ultimately, despite her best attempts, Dr. McIlrath was unable to bring a Russian director to Kansas City.