Willem Dafoe in a 1975 Theatre X production

In this video dug up from UWM archives, Willem Dafoe appears in a Theatre X production from 1975 called “Civil Commitment Hearings.”

In the production, Dafoe appears with several young actors, many of whom studied at UWM and helped found Theatre X. The cast includes Flora Coker, Ron Gural, Arleen Kalenich, John Kishline (incorrectly credited as Kischline), Eric Schneider, John Schneider and Leslie Sharpe.

Some of the cast went on to long careers in theater. Kishline, for example, has acted in almost 200 plays across the country and overseas. John Schneider has been an actor, director, playwright and musician.

Gural has been a director and actor, directing more than 50 productions over the years. He taught at UWM, where Dafoe was one of his students. He’s now a professor emeritus of theater at Tulane University.

Coker spent three decades with Theater X and has also appeared in productions by Next Act, First Stage Children’s Theater and the Milwaukee Rep.

Learn more about Dafoe's time as a UWM theater student: http://uwm.edu/news/acclaimed-actor-w...

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