‘I lost a brother’

Former UTPA theater professor dies

Note: This article originally appeared in the Oct. 16, 2014 issue of The Pan American. The Pan American was the student newspaper at my former university, The University of Texas - Pan American, where I got into writing. Ultimately, TPA was shut down as a result of a merger with neighboring university to make way for The University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley and the new student publication did not transfer anything from TPA. Here's one of my articles for them that was saved thanks to the miracle of Google Docs.

Friday’s performance of Richard III from the University Theatre Productions was dedicated to former UTPA Theater Professor James Hawley, who died of lung cancer Tuesday Oct. 7, at age 71. A memorial service for the Iowa native was held Saturday at 2 p.m. in St. John's Episcopal Church located at 2500 N. 10th St.

Hawley was acknowledged with a poster-size card in the Jeffers lobby; propped up on an easel next to the theatre entrance at the Arts and Humanities Building, it read “teacher, designer, director, friend.” It was followed by the quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet that is spoken by Hamlet’s best friend, Horatio when the titular character dies at the end of the play: “Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince: And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”

Hawley started teaching at UTPA in 1971, when it was known as Pan American University, and he helped start the University theatre department, co-designing and developing the undergraduate and the master's of arts in theatre program. He wrote and directed more than 35 productions, the last of which was Elizabeth and Robert in spring 2001. The play featured him and his wife, Alice Hadley Hawley, portraying poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Hawley stopped teaching shortly after his wife's passing in 2004 according to Marian Monta, a former colleague of Hawley’s.

Monta, professor emeritus for the theater department who joined the University at the same time as Hawley, reflected on her relationship with the Ohio State University alumnus. Together, they built the program from the ground up.

“I lost a brother,” the retired theater professor said of Hawley’s passing. “When we both moved here, we felt lonely in some place new and helped each other settle. We became more than friends, we were family.”

Monta spoke of the work Hawley did for the University’s theatre program when he started working on campus more than four decades ago, explaining that she and Hawley would fight against the music department for use of the fine arts theater because it belonged to the music department at the time. Hawley and Monta even built all the sets and costumes for their productions. To construct a studio theater, Hawley got the idea to use an unused classroom in the original fine arts complex and made all the light fixtures out of coffee cans.

“He always said, ‘We can either run straight to the hills or face the problems ourselves and fix it to improve what we have,’” Monta, a Virginia native, said. “It was a challenge, but the fact that he did so much for the department speaks of how much he cared for it.”

Thomas Grabowski, the current UTPA theatre director, joined the University in 1981 and also worked with Hawley.

“I always thought of him as a mentor,” said the Illinois, also communication department chair “There aren’t a whole lot of current faculty members in the department that were around when he was, but he still supported the program and attended our productions every season.”

Hawley’s family is requesting that all donations be sent to the Hawley Family Faculty Development Endowment and the James and Alice Hawley Theatre Scholarship. More information can be found at the UTPA Foundation, a charitable organization that raises funds to create endowments and scholarships for students.