Endowment Launches Careers for 25 Theatre Students

What started out with a $100 gift turned into lasting way for 25 University of Idaho students to launch their careers. Since 1993, the Rex Rabold/Oregon Shakespeare Festival Fellowship Endowment has provided a paid summer residency at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for a graduating student in the Department of Theatre Arts. Many donors contributed to the endowment in memory of U of I and OSF alumnus Rex Rabold, and in doing so, inspired the future of so many Vandals to come.

In the words of the 2015 fellow, Jeremy Gallardo:

The Rex Rabold Fellowship has been fundamental to my success since leaving the University of Idaho. There’s not a lot of programs that offer experiences like this – an opportunity to work at the largest regional theater on the West Coast. What was a year of gainful employment has now turned into me finishing my third year at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

To any donors that are thinking about giving to this cause, I implore you to do so. This fellowship has changed my life. My time at the University of Idaho helped me shape the tools I needed to succeed, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival showed me how to use them. I hope that future generations of actors, directors, writers and theater makers all have the opportunity that I did.

I could not be more thankful for the faculty and the donors at the University of Idaho who helped make this possible.

Donations make opportunities like the Rex Rabold Fellowship available for students in the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences like Jeremy.