Jay Oney
PhD in theatre history from Ohio State University. 23 years teaching in Furman Department of Theatre Arts. I have directed 25 plays, taught theatre history, acting, directing, and criticism. I have occasionally acted, and I chaired the department for 12 years. I have co-directed the Study Away in the UK program 3 times.
“My years as a Furman Drama major gave me a good academic and production foundation for further training towards a career in the theatre. At Furman, I developed a lifelong faith in the ability of good people to have fun together doing the hard work of making plays.
I have many fond memories from those years, including theatre hockey and the beginnings of theatre darts, post-rehearsal trips to the Krispy Kreme with professors and casts, the thrill of studying great plays in the department’s classes and productions, and marveling at Sam Hodges, a non-theatre major who was a better actor then than I ever became. Also, during a dress rehearsal of a play where I acted with Professor Bryson, at a quiet moment, he whispered, “Oney, you smell like a banana.”
On the less fun side, as a careless scene shop assistant, I almost cut a finger off in the table saw, and we had a prof who chain-smoked as he taught us theatre history in the studio theatre.
As a senior, I directed a full length farce called What the Butler Saw. In the adrenaline surge of opening night, two of the actors accidentally pulled the pants and underwear off of a third. I am the only Furman theatre director so far to preside over a production with full-frontal male nudity. That moment provided the loudest laugh I’ve ever heard in over 40 years of seeing shows in The Playhouse.”
