Cleveland Morton Morris – 50th Reunion Essay

Cleveland Morton Morris

605 N. Coalter Street

Staunton, VA 24401

cmmmmix@gmail.com

540-332-6111

Education: University of Manchester (Dip. Drama) Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (Certificate in Directing)

Career: Free-lance director and teacher (1972–1978); Founding Artistic Director, Delaware Theatre Company (1978–1998); Independent artist and teacher (1998–present)—Governor’s Award for the Arts (1998), Joseph A. Del Tufo Award in the Humanities (1998), Christi Award (1998), named one of the 50 Most Influential Delawareans of the Past 50 Years by Delaware Today (2010)

Avocations: reading, hiking, travel, playing piano

College: Ezra Stiles

I have gone back to Yale only twice since graduation: once for our 15th reunion and once for work. This is not because I didn’t have a glorious experience 50-plus years ago. It is because it was so bittersweet to return and have to confront the immature jerk I was back then. It broke my heart to think of all I missed because of my adolescent arrogance.

Just as youth is wasted on the young, so is education wasted on the ignorant. There is not a single course from my wide-ranging undergraduate curriculum that I would not eagerly take again, and that includes even (maybe especially) the distributional requirements. Although I got an incalculable amount out of my education at Yale, I now realize that I only skimmed the surface. “Standing on a whale, fishing for minnows,” sums it up.

I find I am still learning from certain professors. I wish they knew how much their words and example mean to me now. You professors out there, please know the impact you have! Some of us may have seemed kind of dull at the time, but we may get better later!

Ah, to have been able to shed my high school persona the moment I walked through Phelps Gate and start afresh. But, as an insecure 18-year-old, I held tight. Too tight.

I do not believe I ever had a fully formed thought in my head before going to Yale. I loved the classes, the professors, the opportunities to mix and mingle with faculty in the college dining hall, the bountiful artistic resources made possible for those of us who wanted a side ride of theatre, art, and music. I am grateful for friends for life, even though I actually retained very few.

Here are two things I got from Yale that I will retain to my dying day:

To value clarity of thought and expression. This was as true for me as a play director as it is for me now as a painter. In both careers, and beyond, I have no patience for vagueness, imprecision, and generalities; and

To realize that smart and interesting people come in all shapes and sizes. It took me about a semester to realize that there was nobody in our class who wasn’t smart and outstanding in some other way, too.

While not nearly as active as some of my gay classmates, I wish that I had been able to be more open about my sexuality. Neither I nor the times were right. What an inexpressible joy it is to know how much has changed on college campuses and in this country in the last 50 years!

As I say, I never go back, and living in a small Southern town, I will only mention Yale University if someone asks me directly where I went to college. As each of us knows, as soon as you do, assumptions are made. Besides, if one has truly been made by Yale, one shouldn’t have to say so.