Reflections Magazine Issue #80 - Spring 2014 | Page 35
Alumni Feature
Life Upon the Little Stage…
Memories of Sister Leonilla Barlage, OP
L
ife upon the wicked stage
ain’t nothin’ for a girl,” according to the
Broadway musical Showboat. But Siena’s
Little Theater stage? Now that was something else!
Students at Siena Heights from the
1940s through the ‘60s found inspiration,
encouragement, hard work, even careers
in The Little Theater in the basement of
Sacred Heart Hall. And also in the classroom, in the radio and later TV studio, and
on the Walsh Hall (now Sage) stage—all
under the direction of speech and drama
teacher Leonilla Barlage, OP.
The late Betty Theisen ’44, a pillar of
the SW Michigan arts community as the
St. Joseph High School drama teacher for
40 years, found her life’s work on Sister
Leonilla’s stage.
Virginia Robertson Buckle ’53 (left)
did, too. Under Leonilla’s demanding direction, she appeared in almost every Siena
production including the annual Passion
Plays (far left). As seniors, she and fellow
thespian Phyllis Coscarelly ’53 co-starred
in “Their Hearts Were Young and Gay”
and in the senior drama recital. But even
the stars shared in the hard work of theater; Sister Leonilla made sure of that.
“We would sit in a circle with the huge,
black velour theater curtain on our laps
re-hemming or repairing rips in the heavy
fabric—then lug it back to Walsh Hall to
rehang it,” Virginia remembers. With Leonilla’s recommendation, Virginia received
a scholarship to the University of Michigan, where she earned a master’s in radio
and television. Almost six decades later,
she continues to act on stages near her
home in Ventura, Calif.
By Jennifer Hamlin Church
“Sister Leonilla was ahead of her time,”
says Bette Lucas-Stepek ’54 of Sandpoint,
ID, who remembers classes in choral speaking, radio, drama and puppetry (above).
Mary Ann Corley ’61 agrees. “Sister was
innovative and encouraged us to be inquisitive.” In radio class, “she had us learn
Morse code so we could be tested for a
ham operator license. Since there was only
one mechanism we could use to practice,
we memorized the code by speaking it—
dit, dat, dat, dit—and practiced talking
to one another in code.” Writing from
Albuquerque, NM, Mary Ann notes that
“I still have my license to this day (not
in use, however).”
Anne Birnbryer Eichman ’67 of San
Diego, Calif, was a few years behind Mary
Ann. As a freshman in Leonilla’s Speech
101 class, she learned two “life lessons that
I have carried with me every day since:
Know your audience. And be prepared.”
(Anne later shared those lessons with her
inner-city high school students—then with
the writers and art directors she supervised
at an advertising agency.) By the late ‘60s,
Leonilla was too ill to attend class, Anne
recalls, “but she tasked Kitty Kelley Metzger ’67 and I to collaborate on a project
of our choosing. We chose to make a satirical film called “Springs of the Mattress”
about campus life at Siena. I think we
did her proud.”
Sister Leonilla retired in 1969. u
Left: Virginia Robertson Buckle poses with Sister
Leonilla (front right) at graduation.
Reflections Spring ’14 | 35