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Pearl Setzer Deal: The mother of Playmakers Deal, or “Teacher” as she was affectionately called by her students, grew up on a farm in Catawba County as the oldest of six children. After graduating from L-R, she spent approximately 10 years teaching high school students. She then pursued graduate studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and at Columbia University in New York City. She was a member of the Carolina Playmakers at UNC in 1923-1925. This group sought to develop a native drama of North Carolina by encouraging people across the state to write and produce plays about the state’s folkways. While at Carolina, she was named assistant representative of community drama. These years were very influential, since she modeled the L-R Playmakers after the UNC group. In 1925, she spent one year at Summerland College as head of the Department of English. That year she was also paid by the Catawba County Commission to write and produce a pageant about the history of the county. That pageant, “The Building of Catawba,” was well-received when it was performed at the county fairgrounds. Also in 1925, Deal designed the Catawba County seal, which is still in use today. The next year, she joined the L-R faculty. She was to have a profound influence on the students she taught for the next 27 years. The Playmakers’ first production was “The Rivals,” a comedy by 18th century playwright Richard Sheridan. The program from that performance carried this note: “The profanity Sheridan uses in this play is not in according to the principles of Lenoir Rhyne, but is in keeping with the art of the play and the spirit of the times in which it was written.” Described as stern but sympathetic by former students, Deal taught playwriting, acting and theatre production. She also served as dean of women in her early years at the College. In 1926, the Lenoir-Rhynean student newspaper wrote about her: “Miss Setzer is never too busy to talk to the students, to lend them a helping hand and a word of friendly advice. She is not here to serve as a watchman, to see that we keep the rules of the college — but simply as a friend and guide.” Deal assigned her drama students to write one-act plays about the life of ordinary people in the region. Each year, the best of these efforts were produced by the students and entered in a statewide competition sponsored by the Carolina Playmakers. According to the Hacawa, some of those early student plays included “At the Corn Shuckin’,” “Spendin’ Pa’s Money” and “Liquor and Law.” Deal was also a prolific playwright herself. Over the years, she wrote and produced a number of religious pageants, patriotic plays, plays for civic groups and even a semi-centennial pageant about Lenoir-Rhyne. Each spring, she also oversaw the College’s May Day celebration during which the May Queen and her court were crowned. During her tenure, the college sponsored a drama competition for high school students in western North Carolina. Deal married Loy Edgar Deal on Aug. 31, 1935, when she was 46 years old. Although she never had any children of her own, her Playmakers often visited in her home. Lois-Anne Deorsey Snyder ’53 was one Pearl Setzer Deal’s students. “She was a little woman — wiry and tough — and she loved the art of playmaking,” she recalled about her former teacher. “She was a wonderful taskmaster.” Snyder added, “If she thought a student had any kind of talent, she pushed it.” Snyder added that Deal was a stickler for correct pronunciation. “The students adored her, but respected her. She could take a very shy young man, and she could see something in him.” An article in the 1936 Hacawa put it this way: “Mrs. Pearl Setzer Deal … takes the most undetermined, undeveloped person and brings forth a side of him which he had scarcely been conscious of possessing.” Carlton “Buddy” Deal ’50 also remembers being in Playmakers. “If you did well in dramatics, you could call her Teacher,” he said. “If you didn’t, you could address her as Miss Setzer.” Buddy Deal remembered that she encouraged him to enter a drama competition, which he won. The prize was a job in summer stock theatre in Plymouth, Mass. When he returned to Hickory, he helped organize the Hickory Little Theatre, now known as the Hickory Community Theatre. In 1933, Dr. Gordon Huffman ’35 penned this tribute to his teacher: “Much of the credit for the success of the plays goes to Miss Setzer, who works without ceasing to arrange every detail which will make the play a success.” The College yearbook was dedicated to Pearl Setzer Deal in 1946. Although she was ill in her last years, Deal continued to work at Lenoir-Rhyne until 1953. She died on Aug. 23, 1954. In March 1976, on the 50th anniversary of the founding of Playmakers, the College group and the Hickory Community Theatre staged “You Can’t Take It With You.” Members of Deal’s family attended as special guests and a newspaper article recounted her contributions to Playmakers and the community. Today, the contributions of Pearl Setzer Deal are remembered through the awarding of “Pearlies” each year to Playmakers’ most outstanding performers.
This page updated 09/15/04 by webmaster@lrc.edu. ©1999-2004, Lenoir-Rhyne College.
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L-R drama group celebrates 75th year
