Dorothy Tenham's course informed the industry and set the standard for all subsequent theatrical technical training in drama schools, universities and technical colleges.
10 Facts About Dorothy Tenham
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Dorothy Tenham went with Fernald to the academy as his SM but on the understanding that she could set up a training course for stage managers.
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Dorothy Tenham insisted that training for stage managers at RADA should have the same status as the academy's training of actors, with the award of a RADA Diploma at the end of a student's training.
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Dorothy Tenham was anxious to increase the status within the industry generally of the back-stage arts, leading to proper recognition for all the technical theatre disciplines as well as stage management.
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Dorothy Tenham met considerable and bitter opposition from the RADA Council but had the firm support of Fernald and was eventually given permission to proceed.
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Dorothy Tenham's course began slowly and tentatively in 1956 with just one student, but it grew steadily over the next few years, training up to six students at any one time.
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In 1962 Dorothy Tenham was finally able to launch formally her Stage Management Course at RADA, the first new course to be introduced since the academy started operation almost 60 years before.
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Many of Dorothy Tenham's students, benefitting from her uncompromising standards and the all-encompassing scope of her training, went on to become leading stage managers, company managers, and technical directors while others went variously into theatre production, lighting design, and theatre management, or into radio and television production, acting or other type of performing, or the music industry.
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Dorothy Tenham directed the course for 21 years before retiring in poor health in 1976.
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Dorothy Tenham was awarded a Stage Management Association special award in 1989 for her pioneering work in stage management training.