SDA endows scholarship to honor professor Jack Rowe


The USC School of Dramatic Arts hosted a retirement celebration in the Bing Theater honoring SDA professor Jack Rowe. At the celebration, a new scholarship called the Jack Rowe Student Endowed Scholarship Fund was introduced to honor Rowe’s legacy as a retired actor and director of the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting program at USC.

The USC School of Dramatic Arts hosted a retirement celebration at Bing Theatre on Jan. 21 to honor Jack Rowe, a former professor and director of the school’s BFA in acting. Photo from USC School of Dramatic Arts.

“Jack Rowe’s sharp wit and deep knowledge of the written text has made a lasting impact in the classroom and beyond,” the event’s invitation on the SDA website stated. “We hope you will be able to join us as we celebrate his career and his decades of service to SDA.”

Rowe graduated from USC in 1966 with a degree in economics, but returned to the University in the late 1970s to teach evening drama classes. Since  he began teaching, Rowe became a respected faculty member in the SDA community until his retirement last year, USC News said.

Over the course of his teaching career at USC, Rowe taught about Shakespeare and BA acting classes.

Additionally, he directed numerous plays including Boris Vian’s The Empire Builder, Arthur Schnitzler’s La Ronde and Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure.

“As a teacher, administrator, leader, stage and artistic director, mentor and departmental muse, Jack’s no-nonsense passion for the theater and his deep well of knowledge have been the source of inspiration for legions of students,” said David Bridel, dean of the USC School of Dramatic Arts and the Braverman Family Dean’s Chair, according to USC News release.

During his career as a play director, Rowe also served on the play selection committee and was promoted to the school’s artistic director. He read through countless scripts and guided the committee through the approximately two dozen musicals and plays the school put on each year, USC News said.

In his remarks during the celebration on Jan. 21, Bridel emphasized that Rowe’s contribution to SDA went beyond academics and into helping the school flourish.

“You inspire us, as the most unpretentiously passionate educator ever to grace these classrooms and stages,” Bridel said according to the SDA website. “You’re going to live on in these corridors and on these stages forever, not just because of the scholarship we are building in your name — and a heartfelt thanks to all contributors to the Jack Rowe scholarship fund — but also because the blood, sweat and tears you left on these planks can never, will never, be scrubbed away.”