Editor's note: This story was updated Jan. 10 with the date and time for a visitation at Gorman-Scharpf funeral home.
Byrne Blackwood might as well have been called "Mr. Tent Theatre," colleagues said as Blackwood's health failed in recent days. The former Missouri State University professor of theater and dance died Monday night in hospice care at Mercy hospital.
He was 88.
His son, Randy Blackwood, said the elder Blackwood had two other nicknames.
Almost everybody in Springfield called him "B," his son said, because in 1959when he arrived to teach at what's now Missouri State, people who simply read the name"Byrne" — which sounds like "burn" — weren't sure how to say it.
"It was a family name," Randy Blackwood said, "and people said Bern, Bernie, Byron."
B was also nicknamed "the world's oldest chorus boy," owing to his appetite for performance.
"That was a nickname he was quite proud of," the younger Blackwood remembered.
And for good reason. B Blackwood was the face and heart of Missouri State University's signature summer theaterfestival for more than 30 years, they said, and his influence lives on.
His enormous circle of friends and professional contacts included the likes of star alumniKathleen Turner, John Goodman and Tess Harper, along with thousands of students and community memberswhose lives he touched since he arrived in Springfield, colleagues said.
Blackwood was born March 6, 1930, to Mary and Chet Blackwood, of Chanute, Kansas. Hissurvivors include hiswife of 63 years, Margaret Blackwood, whom he met as a kindergartener.
"They were attracted to each other in high school because they both loved to dance," Randy Blackwood said. "They absolutely loved the ballroom style of dancing."
Margaret and Byrne had two sons.Randy Blackwood later married Joyce Owen-Blackwood. Kevin Blackwood married Judy Blackwood. Their daughter, Marisa Blackwood, was B's only grandchild.
Gorman-Scharpf funeral homeannounced Wednesdaythat at his request, Blackwood was cremated. Avisitation will be held at Gorman-Scharpf, 1947 E. Seminole St., on Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m.In lieu of flowers, memorial contributionsmay be made to the Byrne Blackwood Scholarship at Missouri State Universityor an agency of the donor’s choice.
At a later time, professional colleagues said, the Tent Theatre community plans to announce a memorial celebration of Blackwood's life.
"We think that’s wonderful," Randy Blackwood said the morning after his father passed. "That is representative of the fact that Dad touched so many lives."
"He's worked with everybody in town," said Nathan Shelton, who served as artistic director with Springfield Contemporary Theatre for the past two years."Anybody who grew up in theater here knows B."
Blackwood began teachingfour years before university officials decided the college theater was too hot to use during southern Missouri summers, said Robert Bradley, head of the theater and dance department from 1971 until 2002.
In an era when air conditioning was still a luxury, their solution was to pitch a tent, then put on shows inside.
Blackwood became involved with Tent Theatre in 1964, its second year. Afterclosely collaborating with Tent founders Irene Coger andRobert Gilmore, Blackwoodbecame managing director in the early 1970s.
"He became quite famous for the television ads he and Missouri State media services created to promote Tent Theatre," Bradley said.
"There was one time B was sitting on top of the tent," Bradley added, "and many other quirky situations. That's how the greater public in Springfield got to know who he was."
Mark Templeton, one of three officials brought in after Blackwood's retirement to handle his Tent Theatre duties, said that"Bgrew Tent Theatrefrom its original, very small circular tent to the size and scope of what it is today."
Since 2008, Tent Theatre has been a professional theatercompany with full ties to the national Actors Equity union.
"B was what I consider an icon of our theater community in Springfield," Templeton added. "He is responsible for a lot of the energy in Springfield for our art form."
Chyrel Love Miller, professor emeritus of choreography, also called Blackwood an "icon" of local theater. She said she worked with Blackwood over the course of 40 years. The two collaboratedon many productions at Missouri State and with Springfield Little Theatre.
"He normally worked on anywhere from three to four shows at the same time," Miller said, in productions tied to Missouri State, Springfield Little Theatre, Springfield Contemporary Theatre, Springfield Ballet and Springfield Regional Opera, among others.
"He also designed sets quite frequently for Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico and for several productions in St. Louis," she said. Blackwood's son said B also did scenic design work for productions in Kansas, Texas and Louisiana.
Blackwood's focus was on set and lighting design. He earned a Ph.D. in theater architecture from the University of Kansas, the News-Leader reported in 1969. Miller said his sets were colorful, innovative —and often made to be repurposed from one production to another. He often made small models of his sets before executing the designs. Many of the modelsare now archived at Missouri State's library.
"He was very resourceful," she said.
He dida lot of other types of work too.He acted, touring Europe and elsewhere to entertain military personnel with theUSO, along with doing local productions. He was active in the United States Institute for Theatre Technology and the Missouri Arts Council, Miller said. He was a board member and a president of AIDS Project of the Ozarks, according to News-Leader archives.
"I cannot think of any local arts organizations that Byrne Blackwood has not touched as a performer or designer or a board member," Miller said.
Many of his students went on to become local teachers, whose own students circulated back to Missouri State to study theater with Blackwood, Miller said.
Blackwood's son said his father refused offers of honorarium payments when his former students, now teachers themselves, asked him to come speak about theater for their classes. "He always loved doing that," Randy Blackwood said.
Blackwood also received numerous awards, among them a 2001 appreciation award from the Missouri State University Foundation. Plaques honoring his efforts are installed at Springfield Little Theatre, Juanita K. Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts, theGillioz Theatre and elsewhere.
In 2005, the Springfield Regional Arts Council gave Blackwood its Ozzie Award for arts supporters, following many letters of nomination from around the community.
One of those letters came from then-Greene County Commissioner RoseannBentley, the News-Leader reported on April 29 of that year — in a story that also dubbed Blackwood an "icon."
"Byrne's enthusiasm is so contagious," Bentley wrote, "that I'm sure he is personally responsible for enlightening hundreds of students and community residents about the importance of the arts to a balanced life."
Miller, Blackwood's fellow professor for 40 years, agreed. "He was absolutely a fun guy," she told the News-Leader, "and his energy and excitement extended to every student. He was absolutely a light in their life, one that encouraged them to be what they could be. And they've gone on to work all over the world, on Broadway and in professional theater everywhere."
Blackwood was noted for his determination, she said. "I think that his charisma, his smile and his persistence of life was really wonderful. On the other hand, he could be ornery and stubborn and a force to deal with."
Shelton, with Springfield Contemporary Theatre, said theater people sometimes heard about the hidden temper of the grandfatherly man in the Hawaiian shirts who laughed a lot, "but he never showed it around me."
Bradley, Blackwood's former college department head, laughed and said, "He was certainly stubborn, he was certainly obstinate. There could indeed be times when we'd finally get into shouting matches with each other."
He added, "But when we'd gotten ourselves through it, it was always apparent that what he wanted, first and foremost, was something for the students, for the department, for the production, to always be the best that we could possibly manage."
Most people saw Blackwood's charismatic side, Bradley, Miller and Templeton allsaid. He was particularly known for his curtain speeches at the beginning of each Tent Theatre show.
"He truly made people feel like they were part of a bigger, broader family,"Templeton said. "That's why we have lots of people who've been attending Tent Theatre for 40 years."
When he got on stage to give the curtain speech, everyone knew immediately he was in charge, Miller said. The laughter and joke-telling began.
"He always wore really short shorts because he had beautiful legs," Miller said, "and a three-button-up shirt and tennis shoes and socks.And he came out and talked off the cuff, henever had a written speech. He never used a microphone because his voice carried so well, because of his training."
Curtain speech done, Blackwood went into troubleshooting mode, making sure the show would go on. "If it rained, he would be the first to lower the sides of the tent," Miller said.
Once, she remembered, a storm arrived midway through a performance. An electrical pole fell on the tent, damaging a piano. Blackwood pulled the broken piano out of harm's way and worked all night repairing it.
Blackwood retired in 1997, and Missouri State remembers him fondly, said Shawn Wahl, interim dean of the College of Arts and Letters, which includes theater programs.
"I had the pleasure of staying in touch with B over the past few years," Wahl told the News-Leader. "He was really, really interested in students' experiences in the past few years andwas really excited about the future of Tent Theatre."
Professionally speaking, Blackwood never quite slowed down after retirement.
Just two weeks ago, he had a family member conduct talks with Springfield Regional Opera aboutdesigning sets for the company's production of "Candide" scheduled for April, said Sean Spyres, an opera official.
Julian Palmer, a Chicago resident who was active in Springfield's theater scene and served asshow director at Martha's Vineyard nightclub in the 1990s and 2000s, lamented Blackwood's passing and summed up his legacy.
"He comes from an era of perfection back then," said Palmer, who acted in a 2000 production of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" with Blackwood.
"With so many great directors, choreographersand such, hestood head and shoulders above."
