Known as the “grandfather” of the theater department, Dave Griffiths has had a key role in every play at Hillsdale College for decades.
Griffiths has worked as Hillsdale’s technical director and scenic designer since 1974, making him one of the longest serving faculty members at the college. In fact, he has lived in the same house — three doors down from where he works in the Sage Center for the Arts — for almost 40 years, and he says he has enjoyed his job the entire time.
“It’s always fun and it always has been. I like what I do, and I like Hillsdale,” Griffiths said. “The best part is when you go from a picture to actually creating that picture on stage, and when you get a student who can do that and is interested and has the drive to do that. It’s a powerful thing.”
Griffiths said his involvement in the theater started in high school, where he was cast in musicals solely because he was part of the choir. He discovered a fondness for acting and started taking roles in non-musical theater. It was also in high school that he met his wife, Marion Griffiths.
After graduating from high school, Dave Griffiths decided to attend his parent’s alma mater: Hillsdale College. He originally wanted to be a history teacher, but as he got more involved with the theater department, he decided to change his major to theater. At that time, the department was so small that all the classes were taught by only one professor.
Marion Griffiths transferred to Hillsdale and, between their junior and senior year, they got married.
After graduating from Hillsdale in 1971, Dave Griffiths completed a graduate program geared toward theater design at Michigan State University.
While he was working toward completing his graduate program in 1973, he started working part-time for Hillsdale College. He helped with building the sets for plays and he was a part of the Head Start Program as a preschool teacher.
“I had no training to be a preschool teacher; at the time they were just looking for men. They wanted good male role models for the kids,” Dave Griffiths said.
After finishing his graduate program in 1974, he was hired to work in the theater department at Hillsdale.
Ever since, Griffiths has built the sets and props for all the plays. In addition, he has directed about one play every year — mostly musicals and comedies. He has annually taught courses in design and production, as well as to introduction to theater and the occasional musical history class.
“Because Hillsdale is small, you don’t have to be in one little niche of theater,” Griffiths said. “You can be involved in the whole department, and that’s what I like about it.”
Junior Peter Kistler, a scene-shop supervisor, said that Griffiths puts a lot of time and effort into each of the plays.
“He’s the nuts and bolts of the play because he is involved with everything. If there’s ever a problem with a prop or anything, it’s normally Dave that we run to for help, and he hoists up his pants and fixes it for us,” Kistler said.
The head of the theater department, George Angell, who has worked with Griffiths for 30 years, said that Griffiths’ sets are always “inventive, beautiful, and serve the play.” Angell said he has been “blessed to be able to work with someone who is such a team player.”
“[Griffiths is] a great collaborative colleague. He’s always trying to work to get the best out of a show for what the director’s ideas are and he’s never insistent on his own ideas taking precedent,” Angell said.
Senior Mark Keller and junior Katherine Denton said that Griffiths always has a vision for his plays, and he knows what works best from experience.
“He’s brilliant for comedy, especially when timing is really important,” Keller said.
Denton and Keller agreed that Griffiths creates a very comfortable atmosphere when he’s directing.
“It’s so laid back being in his cast. There’s a kind of relaxedness to it and you can really enjoy it. His casts are always the most fun to work in, and I think the cast bonds the most during his shows,” Denton said.
Denton and Keller are actors in the musical Griffiths is currently directing, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” which runs March 6-10.
Over the years that he has worked at Hillsdale, Griffiths has noticed many changes in the theater department.
“The plays that we are putting on now are more tailored towards a liberal arts education and require helpful work between faculty members,” Griffiths said. “People are not familiar with a lot of the shows we are doing, so they are more fun to work on because they are not tied to people’s preconceptions.”
Costume Designer Bryan Simmons, who has worked with Griffiths for 10 years, said that Griffiths is very dedicated to making all of the plays have a realistic touch.
“He’s always doing a huge amount of background reading to learn more about the play and what the setting should look like,” Simmons said.
Another change that Griffiths has noted is that the department has its building space and theater in Sage.
“We used to have to perform in Phillips [Auditorium] and we’d have to make all the sets in half of the basement of a maintenance building,” Griffiths said. “Having that first play performed in the new theater is one of my favorite memories.”
Out of all the shows he has had a hand in building or directing, Griffiths cannot name a single favorite. “Zombie Prom,” which was performed in 2008, stands out to him, but he says the “play of the time” is always his favorite.
“Theater lives in the memory. At the end of the day, all you have left is some still life pictures because [plays] can’t be recorded and they aren’t meant to be recorded. You can think back on them and that’s fine, but it’s sort of a ‘The king is dead, long live the king’ kind of deal,” Griffiths said. “If you’re lucky, you’re going onto the next play — something new, with new challenges and new excitement.”
