Roger Cornish

Roger Nugent, Ph. D Playwright, Educator, Author Dr. Roger Nugent Cornish, 66, nationally known playwright, author, and educator, died of cancer on July 27, 2000, at St. Mary's Medical Center in Middletown Township, Pa. A resident of Washington Crossing, Pa., Dr. Cornish was Professor and Head of Playwrighting at Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts. Dr. Cornish is survived by his wife, Violet Ketels Cornish of Washington Crossing; his son, Anthony J. (Nancy Eraca) Cornish of Elmira; his daughter, Claire R. Cornish (Michael) Verity of Babylon, NY; five grandchildren; Gabrielle, Isabelle, and Marsden Cornish of Elmira; Austin and Skyler Verity of Babylon; his former wife, Mary Jo McKenna Hertel of Painted Post; stepsons, Christopher and Stephen Ketels; and step-granddaughter, Victoria Ketels, all of Pa.. He was predeceased by his father, Reginald Nugent Cornish in 1935; and his mother, Dorothy Harris Cornish in 1966. Born on April 24, 1934, in Montreal, Canada, Dr. Cornish was reared in Fairfield, Conn. and graduated from Fairfield High School. A veteran of the U.S. Army and Korean War, Dr. Cornish earned a B.A. degree from the University of Connecticut, an M.F.A. in Speech & Drama from the Catholic University of America, where he also toured as an actor in classical theatre with the University's National Players; and a Ph.D. in Theatre Arts from the University of Minnesota. Before joining the faculty at Rutgers, Dr. Cornish held professorships at the University of Connecticut, the Catholic University of America, the University of West Florida, and the Pennsylvania State University, where, in his 12-year tenure, he also served as Chair of the Theatre Department. He was a member of Actor's Equity and the Screen Writers' Guild of America. Cornish first won notice as a playwright when OPEN 24 HOURS, which was produced by the New York City Actors' Playhouse in 1969, won the Samuel French Playwrighting Award. His musical, UNRULY CHILDREN, commissioned by the National Bicentennial Committee for the BICENTENNIAL WAGON TRAIN SHOW, with music by Don Tucker and Bruce Trinkley, was performed in 48 states from 1975-1976, with its final performance at Valley Forge with President Gerald Ford and over 200,000 people in attendance. Also, as prelude to America's bicentennial celebration, Cornish's THIS WAY TO THE ROSE GARDEN, with music by Don Tucker, opened at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre in 1972. Among his widely-anthologized and award-winning plays, performed in regional and repertory theatres throughout the country, ROCKY AND DIEGO, about Mexican painter Diego Rivera and his millionaire patron, Nelson Rockefeller, won the prestigious Kennedy Center Award for New American Plays in 1989; it was premiered by the Philadelphia Drama Guild. THE LAST AMERICAN HERO, commissioned by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, placed second in the 1993 U.S. National Archives Original Plays competition. OFFSHORE SIGNALS, a satiric look at Washington politics during World War II, which opened at the St. Louis Repertory Theatre, was featured at an international Holocaust conference in Berlin. FAT MEN ON THIN ICE, a tough, ironic view of the transfer of power from Stalin to Khrushchev, caused an international incident at the O'Neill Theatre Center when a visiting Russian theatre group, closely monitored by KGB guards, staged a formal protest. A CLASS C TRIAL IN YOKAHOMA premiered at the Alley Theatre in Houston. Dr. Cornish's articles and book reviews have appeared in such publications as the Journal of Modern Literature, the Theatre Journal, and Minority Voices. He edited or contributed to a number of books; most recently, the two-volume LANDMARKS OF MODERN BRITISH DRAMA. Funeral rites were held at Dr. Cornish's home in Washington Crossing, followed by a service in General Washington Pavilion at Washington Crossing Historic Park, where a reading of his one-act, autobiographical play, I Remember a Parade, was given. Another memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Sept. 16 in Kirkpatrick Chapel at Geology Hall, Rutgers University, 85 Somerset St., New Brunswick, NJ. Roger Cornish believed his most significant legacy in the creative arts would come through the success of the playwrights he mentored. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to the Roger Cornish Playwrighting Scholarship Fund., c/o Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts, 33 Livingston Ave., New Brunswick, NJ 08901. th;the