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Faculty ProfileOwen Schaub
So important that more than 40 years later he is still eager for school to resume each fall so he can return to his work in theatre and as a professor in Butler Theatre. “I wouldn’t want to do anything else. Being a teacher of an art form is a marvelous life – it is the opportunity to create as an artist and work with other people who share those goals,” says Schaub. “I’m well-suited to teaching college theatre and I think I knew that early on. I know that I am lucky to have the opportunity to do it.” Schaub never performed on stage, preferring to focus his talents on the design and technical aspects of theatre. His experience includes work at the University of Hawaii, Dalhousie University in Canada and Newberry College in South Carolina, but it is Butler where he’s been the past 24 years. He joined Butler as an associate professor and department chairman, where he served until 1987 and as acting chair from 1989 to 1997. Under his leadership the department grew in both faculty and enrollment and became more specialized. With enrollment at 76 this year, it is about twice its 1980 figure. In 1987, Schaub was able to turn over some technical duties to staff positions and begin directing main stage productions, and since 1998 he has concentrated solely on directing. “The productions became more elaborate and we had more people to design and develop them, so I turned my attention toward directing.” His hope for Butler students? “That they will have some sense that theatre art is important to them in whatever kind of career or future they choose, and they take what they have learned – working well with others, discipline and a good work ethic – with them. Most importantly, that they are happy adults,” says Schaub, with an affirmation that confirms he has found that level of happiness in the theatre.
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Owen Schaub knew he’d caught the “theatre bug” when
as a Long Island teenager he couldn’t wait until school
resumed because he missed working in the theatre. “It began
one day when I offered to help a friend carry some lighting equipment
and someone asked me to continue helping and I did - for the
next three years,” he says. As he prepared to enter his
senior year he realized how much he missed building scenery and
setting lights. “I started bugging the theatre teacher
about when we could begin our first production. That’s
when it I realized how important it was to me.”