UConn officially killed the Medieval Studies program from which I received my MA and PhD. They had been strangling it for years, so in a way this was an expected yet no less painful a blow. The same neoliberalism that has been turning education into a pipeline for industry — a funnel to the capitalist blight on us all — doomed this unusual program that more than held its own amongst the elite university programs in the field. Did we have a collective chip on our shoulders at the annual grad conference shared with Brown and Yale? Sure. But we rocked. We also tended to get the jobs because we taught our way through Freshman English courses, a true trial by fire.

One of the joys of those years was the annual holiday plays that I admit to instigating, but found to join me many fellow conspirators (even among the faculty). To commemorate this latest loss to the lights of academia, my own poor contribution is to assemble the scripts that I could find. Such are my memories, along with all the wonderful things I learned and friends I met. I could never quite convince my advisor that all my fictions and scribbles was just my following in the footsteps of M. R. James and J. R. R. Tolkien, but I continue plunder that treasure trove with impunity for stories, plays, music and magic.

Apologies to the scholars whose work was looted for these spoofs. I hope it falls under academic fair use. This collection is for amusement only of those who were there and experienced the madness — or those who wish they were.

Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day.

Download the plays here [PDF]. In solidarity with all the UConn medievalists near and far.