Don B. Wilmeth (Ph.D., Illinois, 1964), Asa Messer Professor Emeritus (named in 1998); Professor of Theatre and English Emeritus; Honorary Curator of the H. Adrian Smith Collection of Conjuring Books and Magicana at Brown University (chair, Dept. of Theatre, Speech & Dance 1979-1987; 1998-June 2001). A 1982 Guggenheim Fellow, he is the author, editor, or co-editor of more than two dozen books, including the Cambridge Guide to American Theatre (1993; with Tice Miller) and the award-winning biography, George Frederick Cooke: Machiavel of the Stage (Hewitt Award). Other books include: The Language of American Popular Entertainment, Variety Entertainment and Outdoor Amusements, Mud Show, American and English Popular Entertainment, editions of plays by Augustin Daly and William Gillette (with Rosemary Cullen), and documents on American theatre, Civil War to WW I (the latter in 1996). He updated all U.S. entries in the 2nd ed. of the Cambridge Guide to Theatre (1995). Editor of the series, "Studies in American Theatre and Drama" (20 volumes published to date); coDB-editor of the three-volume Cambridge History of American Theatre (with Christopher Bigsby) [volume one published, 1998; vols. 2, July 1999 & 3, Feb. 2000]; produced a revised paperback edition (as sole editor) of the Cambridge Guide to American Theatre (1996), all for Cambridge University Press (he is currently working on a new edition of the guide); editor of Staging the Nation: Plays from the American Theatre, 1787-1909 (Bedford Books, 1998). Vol. one of CHAT was selected as an outstanding academic book of the year by CHOICE, received the Special Jury/George Freedley Award in 1999 from the Theatre Library Association, and was awarded the Barnard Hewitt Award for Excellence in Theatre Studies from the U. of Illinois and the American Society for Theatre Research. He is a past-President of ASTR (1991-94) and served as its Secretary, 1995-2002. He has been on the editorial boards of the journals Nineteenth Century Theatre, Modern Language Studies, Studies in American Drama, 1945-Present, Journal of American Drama and Theatre, New England Theatre Journal, Theatre History Studies, New Theatre Quarterly, and American Drama. He has contributed to many reference works and collections, including: World Book Encyclopedia (including the major theatre entry), Prospects, Dictionary of American Biography, Shakespeare Around the Globe, Encyclopedia of American Social History, American Playwrights Since 1945, American Theatre Companies, The American Stage, Encyclopedia of New York City, Handbook of American Popular Culture, Compton's Encyclopedia, Theatrical Directors, Review, and Encyclopedia of American History, among others. Was on the board of the College of Fellows of the American Theatre (and its Dean,1996-98) and is an elected member of the National Theatre Conference. He also served on the board of the American Theatre and Drama Society, the International Federation for Theatre Research, and is on the board of new International Shaw Society. Former book review editor for The Theatre Journal (1978-80), Wilmeth has been a consultant to the Library of Congress's American Memory Project (the variety stage, 1870-1920 project), WNET's (New York) and the NY Center for Visual History's series on the American theatre, a proposed documentary on vaudeville for WGBH (Boston), "American Experience" documentary on Houdini, a Massachusetts Humanities Project titled "Unraveling Racism: Minstrelsy Revisited," Chadwyke-Healey (ProQuest) series on American drama on CD-Rom, the Humanities Research Center at UT-Austin, and documentary on Gilbert & Sullivan. A reader for numerous presses; a visiting scholar to Japan (invited by Japan Foundation). He has lectured in England, Japan, and Russia, and has served as panelist and consultant at Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage, Trinity Repertory Theatre (Providence, RI), as resident scholar at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, and as a participant in several seminars at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. In 1998 he was appointed to a permanent scholarly advisory committee to the Festival and was reappointed in 2003. In addition, Wilmeth has directed plays frequently (most recently, Webster's THE DUCHESS OF MALFI, Corneille's THE ILLUSION, adapted by Tony Kushner, and, in 1998, SWEENEY TODD [the musical], CANDIDE in 2002) and has been an actor (he is currently preparing a role in A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE). He has served (28 yrs.) as chair or juror for the George Freedley Award for the outstanding theatre book of the year, presented by the Theatre Library Association (vice president, 1981-84). Fall 1995 he was the O.R.and Eva Mitchell Visiting Distinguished Professor at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Was the featured speaker at the annual meeting of the Circus Historical Society in San Antonio and in April 1998 at the 25th anniversary of the Tent Rep Theatre Museum in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. Fall 1998 he received from the New England Theatre Conference a Special Achievement Award for contribution to the theatrical profession with an impact on the national level and was selected the first outstanding theatre alum at the University of Arkansas (MA, 1961). Summer 1999 he received the Betty Jean Jones Award for Outstanding Teacher of American Theatre and Drama from the American Theatre and Drama Society. Spring 2001 awarded the Anthony Denning Award from the (British) Society for Theatre Research, August 2001 received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education and in November the 2001 Award for Scholarship from the American Society for Theatre Research. 2003 he was presented the ATHE award for sustained excellence in editing.