Oberlin College has always had a reputation of commitment to the performing arts — but in the ’60s this commitment reached across the country and catapulted Obies into the realm of cattle-call auditions, hectic repertory schedules…and haunted mansions.

September 30, 1969

A yellowed mansion, reminiscent of “Nathaniel Hawthorne on a bad trip,” and haunted by the ghost of a young girl in a flowing gown…the home of a group of Oberlinians who spent the summer on Cape Cod keeping the Highfield Gilbert and Sullivan experience alive.

For many years, the College supported a summer theater on Cape Cod at the Highfield Estate near Falmouth. The troupe of students under less than ideal conditions performed Gilbert and Sullivan for residents and summer visitors and spread Oberlin’s reputation on the eastern seaboard.

Two ex-Oberlinites Roger Haslun and Don Tull…held auditions for a company in Boston, New York and Oberlin, and selected approximately sixty people who ranged in age from 15 to 24. The staff and the company were young, the life was loose and free, when they escaped from the rigid schedule imposed by doing a play a week.

The rehearsal schedules were necessarily heavy and hectic. A typical day began at nine with calisthenics, then went into blocking and chorus rehearsal, with only a short break for lunch.

One member of the troupe, junior Pat Broome, recalled nights where the residents attempted to communicate with the legendary ghost, who reportedly had tried to hang herself. “People lost their inhibitions there,” Pat said. “There was a lot of growing going on.”