Baker Proud Fall 2017 - 12

Rediscovering

"T he

Legend
of Doug Taip"

uring the summer of 1993, an imaginative
group of theater folks at Baker University
hatched a mischievous plot that has finally
come to fruition 24 years later.

Summer 1993
Twenty-four years ago, the original Rice Auditorium
stage was rounded and had a fabric apron from the lip
of the stage to the floor. The nearly 40-year-old stage
design affected the acoustics of the auditorium, keeping
actors from easily projecting their voices. So, shortly after
Broadway at Baker ended that summer, Mark Kirk, former
professor of communications and theatre, oversaw work to
update the stage.
During that process, Kirk and several workstudy
students marveled at the random and weird things they
found under the stage. This sparked the idea of leaving
something behind themselves. The idea quickly snowballed, and the creative group got to work.
Summer 2017
A few days after the final Broadway at Baker production of the summer of 2017, construction began on new
Rice Auditorium renovations. This phase of the renovation
includes new seating, new equipment, roof repair, new
storage and lighting areas, and, of course, a new stage.
On August 2, the third day of renovations, a time capsule from 1993 was unearthed from the oldest portion of
the stage. Contractors and Associate Professor of Theatre
Tom Heiman were baffled and amazed at the discovery: a
strange prop hand, an envelope, and a letter.
The hand was a prop from a long-forgotten theatre production. It looks like a burned hand, severed at the wrist,
complete with a manicure and jewelry.

in Rice Auditorium
This hand was found next to an official Baker University envelope with a typed note on the front. The message
reads, "Greetings from 1993" and describes how a student
named Doug Taip had an accident on the table saw and
lost his hand, where it was forgotten under the stage forever. The message signed off, "From the continuing legend
of Doug Taip."
Inside, the letter contained short messages and signatures from the conspirators.
Kirk wrote, "Hi! Hope you are doing something good
with our stage."
Joanna Daffron, '96, wrote, "If you do not perform
Dracula as soon as you find this, I will come back and
haunt you...terrorizing and torturing you and your family
until the end of
time."
Ray Robins,
'95, wrote, "Who
are you and why
are you here!?"
Doug Taip
left a message as
well: "We opened
the stage apron
The prop hand found in the 1993 time
for the first time
capsule discovered in Rice Auditorium.
since the building opened in the 1950's. We are assuming no one will find
this for another 30+ years. QUESTION: Do you guys still
use Duck Tape (Duct Tape)?"
Creating the Capsule
Most of the students involved don't remember the
creation of the capsule, but a few of them surmised that
this was something they would have done back then.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Baker Proud Fall 2017