MRS. EWING STARTED MEMPHIS CHILDREN'S THEATRE
For nearly three decades, Lucile Doan Ewing gave the children of Memphis a voice. There was only one requirement for being in the theater group she started in the 1940s and continued through the height of the civil rights movement: You had to be a kid.
The woman who founded the Memphis Children's Theatre died early Monday morning at her home of congestive heart failure. She was 86.
"Whether you went into the theater as a career or not," said Emily Yellin, who joined the theater in the late 1960s, "the time you were under Mrs. Ewing was the time you learned that what you give to the world is important."
A fifth-generation Memphian, Mrs. Ewing was born in the Glenview Park neighborhood.
Her theatrical thirst emerged at age 4, when she stood up and delivered the 23rd Psalm in church. She grew up attending plays at The Auditorium and falling in love with playwrights Oscar Wilde and Tennessee Williams.
A strong early influence was her aunt Martha Macon Byrnes, who ran city arts programs as early as 1915.
In the late '40s, Mrs. Ewing took over a children's radio program that aired on WMPS in Memphis. She realized there was no place for children to put on shows of their own. In 1949, she held auditions for her first play. More than 200 children showed up.
She founded the Memphis Children's Theatre in 1951, operated by the city but run by children, who were the actors, directors, writers and publicists. She once described her process: "We would take an old fairy tale and write in 60, maybe 70 parts. It wasn't necessary, but they all had something to say, and everybody was treated alike."
Mrs. Ewing kept the stage open to children of all races and was an advocate for civil rights.
"For some reason, it seemed the Children's Theatre was always making a statement for something," said David Williams, who is now a consultant in Memphis.
The Children's Theatre moved over the years from the Pink Palace to the Quonset hut at the Mid-South Fairgrounds to its current location at 2635 Avery. The building there is named in her honor.
Mrs. Ewing had small roles in at least five films and appeared in commercials. She last appeared in the 2000 film My Dog Skip.
She received an associate degree from Dodd College in Louisiana. In 1988, Mrs. Ewing won the Women of Achievement Award for "determination." That same year she also won a Memphis Theatre Award. She received letters of acknowledgment from Presidents Ford and Clinton.
But perhaps her greatest achievement was touching the lives of thousands of children. Several of her performers now have stage careers, including her daughter Julia Macon `Cookie' Ewing, who teaches theater at Rhodes College.
Mrs. Ewing, the widow of Robert Bruce Ewing, attended the Church of the Holy Communion. She also leaves a son, Robert Bruce Ewing Jr. of Dowingtown, Pa., a sister Billie Banks Doan Ballou of Suffern, N.Y., four grandchildren and one great-grandson.
Even after retiring from the city in 1976, she kept in touch with children from her theater. In a 1983 interview, she said, "I run into people who tell me what a terrific help the Children's Theatre in Memphis was for them. I think it's a shame they grow up so rapidly. Now I don't mean it's all right to stay in never-never land, but I believe you should enjoy being a child. Life is too short not to enjoy every minute."
For nearly three decades, Lucile Doan Ewing gave the children of Memphis a voice. There was only one requirement for being in the theater group she started in the 1940s and continued through the height of the civil rights movement: You had to be a kid.
The woman who founded the Memphis Children's Theatre died early Monday morning at her home of congestive heart failure. She was 86.
"Whether you went into the theater as a career or not," said Emily Yellin, who joined the theater in the late 1960s, "the time you were under Mrs. Ewing was the time you learned that what you give to the world is important."
A fifth-generation Memphian, Mrs. Ewing was born in the Glenview Park neighborhood.
Her theatrical thirst emerged at age 4, when she stood up and delivered the 23rd Psalm in church. She grew up attending plays at The Auditorium and falling in love with playwrights Oscar Wilde and Tennessee Williams.
A strong early influence was her aunt Martha Macon Byrnes, who ran city arts programs as early as 1915.
In the late '40s, Mrs. Ewing took over a children's radio program that aired on WMPS in Memphis. She realized there was no place for children to put on shows of their own. In 1949, she held auditions for her first play. More than 200 children showed up.
She founded the Memphis Children's Theatre in 1951, operated by the city but run by children, who were the actors, directors, writers and publicists. She once described her process: "We would take an old fairy tale and write in 60, maybe 70 parts. It wasn't necessary, but they all had something to say, and everybody was treated alike."
Mrs. Ewing kept the stage open to children of all races and was an advocate for civil rights.
"For some reason, it seemed the Children's Theatre was always making a statement for something," said David Williams, who is now a consultant in Memphis.
The Children's Theatre moved over the years from the Pink Palace to the Quonset hut at the Mid-South Fairgrounds to its current location at 2635 Avery. The building there is named in her honor.
Mrs. Ewing had small roles in at least five films and appeared in commercials. She last appeared in the 2000 film My Dog Skip.
She received an associate degree from Dodd College in Louisiana. In 1988, Mrs. Ewing won the Women of Achievement Award for "determination." That same year she also won a Memphis Theatre Award. She received letters of acknowledgment from Presidents Ford and Clinton.
But perhaps her greatest achievement was touching the lives of thousands of children. Several of her performers now have stage careers, including her daughter Julia Macon `Cookie' Ewing, who teaches theater at Rhodes College.
Mrs. Ewing, the widow of Robert Bruce Ewing, attended the Church of the Holy Communion. She also leaves a son, Robert Bruce Ewing Jr. of Dowingtown, Pa., a sister Billie Banks Doan Ballou of Suffern, N.Y., four grandchildren and one great-grandson.
Even after retiring from the city in 1976, she kept in touch with children from her theater. In a 1983 interview, she said, "I run into people who tell me what a terrific help the Children's Theatre in Memphis was for them. I think it's a shame they grow up so rapidly. Now I don't mean it's all right to stay in never-never land, but I believe you should enjoy being a child. Life is too short not to enjoy every minute."
MRS. EWING STARTED MEMPHIS CHILDREN'S THEATRE
For nearly three decades, Lucile Doan Ewing gave the children of Memphis a voice. There was only one requirement for being in the theater group she started in the 1940s and continued through the height of the civil rights movement: You had to be a kid.
The woman who founded the Memphis Children's Theatre died early Monday morning at her home of congestive heart failure. She was 86.
"Whether you went into the theater as a career or not," said Emily Yellin, who joined the theater in the late 1960s, "the time you were under Mrs. Ewing was the time you learned that what you give to the world is important."
A fifth-generation Memphian, Mrs. Ewing was born in the Glenview Park neighborhood.
Her theatrical thirst emerged at age 4, when she stood up and delivered the 23rd Psalm in church. She grew up attending plays at The Auditorium and falling in love with playwrights Oscar Wilde and Tennessee Williams.
A strong early influence was her aunt Martha Macon Byrnes, who ran city arts programs as early as 1915.
In the late '40s, Mrs. Ewing took over a children's radio program that aired on WMPS in Memphis. She realized there was no place for children to put on shows of their own. In 1949, she held auditions for her first play. More than 200 children showed up.
She founded the Memphis Children's Theatre in 1951, operated by the city but run by children, who were the actors, directors, writers and publicists. She once described her process: "We would take an old fairy tale and write in 60, maybe 70 parts. It wasn't necessary, but they all had something to say, and everybody was treated alike."
Mrs. Ewing kept the stage open to children of all races and was an advocate for civil rights.
"For some reason, it seemed the Children's Theatre was always making a statement for something," said David Williams, who is now a consultant in Memphis.
The Children's Theatre moved over the years from the Pink Palace to the Quonset hut at the Mid-South Fairgrounds to its current location at 2635 Avery. The building there is named in her honor.
Mrs. Ewing had small roles in at least five films and appeared in commercials. She last appeared in the 2000 film My Dog Skip.
She received an associate degree from Dodd College in Louisiana. In 1988, Mrs. Ewing won the Women of Achievement Award for "determination." That same year she also won a Memphis Theatre Award. She received letters of acknowledgment from Presidents Ford and Clinton.
But perhaps her greatest achievement was touching the lives of thousands of children. Several of her performers now have stage careers, including her daughter Julia Macon `Cookie' Ewing, who teaches theater at Rhodes College.
Mrs. Ewing, the widow of Robert Bruce Ewing, attended the Church of the Holy Communion. She also leaves a son, Robert Bruce Ewing Jr. of Dowingtown, Pa., a sister Billie Banks Doan Ballou of Suffern, N.Y., four grandchildren and one great-grandson.
Even after retiring from the city in 1976, she kept in touch with children from her theater. In a 1983 interview, she said, "I run into people who tell me what a terrific help the Children's Theatre in Memphis was for them. I think it's a shame they grow up so rapidly. Now I don't mean it's all right to stay in never-never land, but I believe you should enjoy being a child. Life is too short not to enjoy every minute."
For nearly three decades, Lucile Doan Ewing gave the children of Memphis a voice. There was only one requirement for being in the theater group she started in the 1940s and continued through the height of the civil rights movement: You had to be a kid.
The woman who founded the Memphis Children's Theatre died early Monday morning at her home of congestive heart failure. She was 86.
"Whether you went into the theater as a career or not," said Emily Yellin, who joined the theater in the late 1960s, "the time you were under Mrs. Ewing was the time you learned that what you give to the world is important."
A fifth-generation Memphian, Mrs. Ewing was born in the Glenview Park neighborhood.
Her theatrical thirst emerged at age 4, when she stood up and delivered the 23rd Psalm in church. She grew up attending plays at The Auditorium and falling in love with playwrights Oscar Wilde and Tennessee Williams.
A strong early influence was her aunt Martha Macon Byrnes, who ran city arts programs as early as 1915.
In the late '40s, Mrs. Ewing took over a children's radio program that aired on WMPS in Memphis. She realized there was no place for children to put on shows of their own. In 1949, she held auditions for her first play. More than 200 children showed up.
She founded the Memphis Children's Theatre in 1951, operated by the city but run by children, who were the actors, directors, writers and publicists. She once described her process: "We would take an old fairy tale and write in 60, maybe 70 parts. It wasn't necessary, but they all had something to say, and everybody was treated alike."
Mrs. Ewing kept the stage open to children of all races and was an advocate for civil rights.
"For some reason, it seemed the Children's Theatre was always making a statement for something," said David Williams, who is now a consultant in Memphis.
The Children's Theatre moved over the years from the Pink Palace to the Quonset hut at the Mid-South Fairgrounds to its current location at 2635 Avery. The building there is named in her honor.
Mrs. Ewing had small roles in at least five films and appeared in commercials. She last appeared in the 2000 film My Dog Skip.
She received an associate degree from Dodd College in Louisiana. In 1988, Mrs. Ewing won the Women of Achievement Award for "determination." That same year she also won a Memphis Theatre Award. She received letters of acknowledgment from Presidents Ford and Clinton.
But perhaps her greatest achievement was touching the lives of thousands of children. Several of her performers now have stage careers, including her daughter Julia Macon `Cookie' Ewing, who teaches theater at Rhodes College.
Mrs. Ewing, the widow of Robert Bruce Ewing, attended the Church of the Holy Communion. She also leaves a son, Robert Bruce Ewing Jr. of Dowingtown, Pa., a sister Billie Banks Doan Ballou of Suffern, N.Y., four grandchildren and one great-grandson.
Even after retiring from the city in 1976, she kept in touch with children from her theater. In a 1983 interview, she said, "I run into people who tell me what a terrific help the Children's Theatre in Memphis was for them. I think it's a shame they grow up so rapidly. Now I don't mean it's all right to stay in never-never land, but I believe you should enjoy being a child. Life is too short not to enjoy every minute."
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