Missouri State University

In 1963, Robert Gilmore and Irene Coger, theatre professors, met with Dick Haswell, head of the English department, to discuss a problem the Speech and Theatre program was facing. The theatre in the Administration Building (later Carrington Hall) had steadily had its windows bricked over for heating purposes, and by 1962 had primarily only west-facing windows that let in sunlight, but very little air movement. Since air conditioning was not yet common, Tent theatre was born as a solution to this problem.