Drama is in the blood of Fordham professor, Franciscan nun

Published: 2003-12-17

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Franciscan Sister Francesca Thompson, who teaches theater at Jesuit-run Fordham University in New York and sits on the board for the Tony Awards, comes by her interest in the performing arts honestly. Sister Thompson's parents were members of the Lafayette Players, a touring production company out of the Lafayette Theater in Harlem. In U.S. theater history, no other stock company lasted longer -- 17 years, from 1915 to 1932. Her mother died when Thompson was 7 months old, prompting a move to Indianapolis, where her father and grandmother raised her. A stream of local politicians paid visits to Sister Thompson's grandmother, a ward captain for the Democrats. Performers Paul Robeson, Ruby Dee and Eubie Blake were regulars, too, calling on her father. Sister Thompson, who did her doctoral dissertation for the speech and drama department at the University of Michigan on the Lafayette Players, came to Fordham 21 years ago as a scholar in residence and stayed to head up a multicultural office for students in one of the most multicultural cities in the world.

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