Student Organizations
Alpha Psi Omega
Alpha Psi Omega is a national honorary society for
dramatic arts. It began in the early twentieth century
as result of the growing interest in dramatic arts among
colleges and universities throughout America. Several
honor societies in this discipline began to form around
1920 to recognize and reward students participating in
theatrical productions. The first society, Alpha Psi
Omega, was founded at the Fairmont State College in West
Virginia in 1925. The Masquers, the original name of the
group, began around 1921 performing about four to five
productions annually for both students and the public.
The Masquers thought about creating a national honor
society in dramatics to reward members for their work.
Elinor B. Watson, Robert Sloan, and Paul F. Opp, who
were the members of the national committee, drafted the
constitution for Alpha Psi Omega. On August 12, 1925,
members of Masquers, who met the qualifications stated
in the constitution, adopted the constitution and
changed their name to Alpha Psi Omega. It was decided
that each chapter would be called a "cast". Whittier
College's cast name is Pi Mu. "Playbill" was accepted as
the title of the national magazine. In the first couple
of years of Alpha Psi Omega, the twenty chapters met
every five years at "Grand Rehearsals", national
conferences, which are now held annually at the
Southeastern Theatre Conference. There are now over 550
chapters in America making up Alpha Psi Omega, one of
the largest national honor society in America.
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