By Valerie Gauman Lucas

The University’s John Cranford Adams Playhouse is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

The Playhouse theater director and alumnus Alan Pittman remembered the time he accidentally slammed a trapdoor on his head, to the horror of those below him. Pittman’s experience was one of many that have taken place at the Playhouse, which has hosted many, quality theatrical productions as well as lectures, concerts and readings during half-century of use.

Award-winning filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola directed a show in the Playhouse. He spoke about his experiences in a retrospective promotional video featured on the University’s Web site.

Built in 1958, the Playhouse was designed by Aymar Embury and dedicated to John Cranford Adams, Ph.D., the second president of the University. Adams founded the annual Shakespeare Festival in the same year in addition to creating a five-sixths model of Shakespeare’s famous Globe stage based off a small model he created for his doctoral research.

The first project of its kind in the Eastern United States, every aspect of the construction of the Playhouse was considered with the Globe reconstruction in mind. Adams’ original model, which boasts meticulously-sculpted pencil erasers for the flooring, is on display in a lower section of the Playhouse.

On March 15, there will be an alumni reception and a viewing of the model.

Jean Giebel, the University chairperson and associate professor of drama and dance, said that Hamlet was the first production in the University’s annual Shakespeare festival that was performed in the Globe reconstruction. This year’s festival is revisiting the play; the Shakespeare Festival will open on March 6.

Giebel’s first experience with the stage was directing “Sweet Charity” the first year she came to teach.

Lance Westergard, associate professor of dance, recalled dancing on the Playhouse stage for the Metropolitan Opera Ballet Company.

Coppola was not the only distinguished alumnus or guest to experience the wonder of the 40,504 square-foot Playhouse. In addition to notable alumni such as actresses Lainie Kazan and Madeline Kahn, the stage hosted many guests both political and entertainment related.

Jon Stewart performed on the stage in 2001, joking about a “mysterious trapdoor,” classic rock legends Deep Purple sang their hit “Smoke on the Water” under the Playhouse’s light in the ’70s, and former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft gave a lecture there in 2007.

Pittman is the third director to reign in the theater. Pittman, expressed the enormity of the building’s legacy.

“That’s just what the playhouse is: it’s so many stories. It’s hard to cram them into a sardine can version,” Pittman said. “It’s brimming with all sorts of Hofstra history both theatrical and [even] presidential.”

Adams Playhouse will celebrate its 50th anniversary after hosting student and non-student performances since 1958.