Retreading the Boards

Marty White met her late husband, former Nebraska Wesleyan president, John White, on the stage. They were both in a production of “The Importance of Being Earnest” at Martin College in Pulaski, Tenn. He played Algernon; she was Cecily.

“John actually asked me to marry him before we even started dating,” Marty said with an elegant yet robust laugh. “A year or so before John died, we went up to Minneapolis to see a production of the play at the Guthrie [Theater]. It was so fun hearing those words again after all that time. Theatre has always been a part of our lives.”

Imagine a young John White speaking Oscar Wilde’s famous words to his future wife: “I hope, Cecily, I shall not offend you if I state quite frankly and openly that you seem to me to be in every way the visible personification of absolute perfection.”

In matters of the heart, John spoke with much more brevity than his grandiloquent character. Before they were married, Marty remembers him telling her, “You’ll never be rich. But you’ll never be bored.”

He was right, she says. As wife of a college president, Marty immersed herself in the campus and the community. “Jackie Kennedy once said that ‘First Lady’ sounded like a race horse to her. There were times I thought maybe I was a race horse.”

When she wasn’t attending events, serving on boards and baking apple pies for the entire faculty, Marty most enjoyed attending NWU theatre productions. She vividly remembers when the Elder Theatre Center was built. It was the first major project completed during John’s tenure as president.

“When we first came to Lincoln for John to interview for the position, Dr. Philip Kaye [chair of the speech and theatre department] and his wife, Zodie, had us over for dinner,” she said. “I remember Dr. Kaye and John sitting on the couch, and the first thing Dr. Kaye said was, ‘Look, John, what we really need is a speech and theatre building.’”

After John began as president, it became one of his chief priorities. Marty remembers the construction of the building, notably their teenaged son being put to work sanding concrete bricks.

This was an exciting time for John and Marty, seeing their first building rise. Like the current excitement surrounding the Duane W. Acklie Hall of Science, the new building held the promise of future prosperity for the university.

The Jay C. Elder and Edith Dimmitt Elder Speech and Theatre Center opened to the public in March of 1981. The first production in McDonald Theatre was Mary Chase’s “Harvey.”

“It was the ‘new theatre’ to me for so long,” Marty said. “It was only recently I remembered it isn’t the ‘new theatre’ anymore! We only had a limited budget when the building was first built. Now there are things that need to be redone. Modernization is vital. You know the old saying—if you don’t move forward you move backward.”

Marty recently made a generous gift to the renovation of McDonald Theatre, a project which is part of Bold Designs: The Campaign for Nebraska Wesleyan University. The plan includes new seats, a modern stage and a redesigned lobby. Marty was the first donor to the project.

“I want our students to have the best opportunities in the best environment,” she said. “Our students deserve that. I personally know what theatre can do for you.”

Marty was a shy and reserved only child. Her mother died when she was a baby and she was brought up by her grandmother. To overcome her granddaughter’s shyness, she put Marty on the stage by the age of four.

“In my first performance I sang ‘I’m a Lonely Little Petunia.’ I still remember the words: ‘I’m a lonely little petunia in an onion patch. Won’t you come and play with me?’ Ever since then I just loved the stage.”

Marty may not have become a professional actor, but she brought her performing experience into her long career as an elementary school teacher. “As a teacher, you’re always sort of an actor. I felt like I was on stage every day.”

Marty’s support for the performing arts can be felt throughout Lincoln. She was on the board of the Lincoln Community Playhouse, served as president of Theatre Arts for Youth, and has been involved with the Lincoln Symphony Guild.

And Marty continues to be a devoted patron of NWU Theatre.

“I bring friends to Nebraska Wesleyan shows and I have to convince them that these are not professional actors,” she said. “They just can’t believe they’re students.”

Many plays throughout the years stand out, but it’s the overall growth of the theatre department that has impressed her the most.

“It’s grown so much,” she said. “The number of plays, the number of people who attend. We’re no longer a little theatre that’s a small part of Wesleyan. We are a large part of Wesleyan now.”

And she feels connected to the students. She loves seeing them perform as first-year students, grow as actors and go on to pursue professional careers in the theatre.

“Theatre did so much for me,” she said. “It’s a blessing to get to see so many students discover the joy of theatre and realize their dreams.”