09/15/2026
I am absolutely heartbroken. Our beloved David Allen George has passed away. Known as DAG to his innumerable students, colleagues, and friends, he was a founding faculty member of our department, an inexhaustible advocate for his students, and one of the kindest souls I have ever known. Although he retired in 2019, our current students still know him through the unfailing generosity of his annual DAG Award- as well as our stories of him, which distilled into Legend years ago. He received a well-deserved standing ovation the last time he strode into the Mainstage, this past May, and that’s how I will always think of him: in his black satin Lodico jacket, standing in spotlight, with tears in his eyes- beaming at the applause and smiling faces of hundreds of admirers.
To paraphrase a fellow Salem State Theatre alum and David Allen George acolyte- for a man who always wore black, DAG added so much color to our world.
My deepest condolences go out to his family, and to everyone whose life was made more vibrant by his presence. We will share information about any public services and tributes as they become available.
Meanwhile, I wanted to share this beautiful statement DAG wrote for his retirement announcement. I could not better explain his immense impact than this personal reflection on his life’s work:
“For 42 years Salem State Theatre has been my life. Every day has been just one more step toward actually having a dream come true. I wanted to be a part of the development of a Theatre Arts Program that was built on the basic idea --and my true belief-- that every student should be considered a future artist, and that a student’s development as such was always to be my professional responsibility and personal desire.
Today I can look at the new Sophia Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts and actually see a genuine physical entity right before me that speaks to the completion of this dream.
For all of the years, the students, the classes, the productions, the meetings, the negotiations, the competitions, the successes and the failures, the awards and honors, from the early days of the “all-nighters” to the current regional and national recognitions, and now our remarkable growth in the number of majors, minors, faculty and staff, it has always been one of my greatest pleasures to simply walk into the classroom or rehearsal and feel that I was making a difference.
To all of my Salem State Theatre “extended family,” allow me to tell you the one thing today that I know to be the biggest piece of evidence that I have made any difference at all: when I see with my own eyes the brilliant things you are doing with your talents, your education and your hearts. The students, current and past, are the only affirmation I will ever really need to feel as if I have done something worthwhile in my many years at Salem State University and with the Salem State Theatre. Thank you for allowing me to know you, to work with you, to love you. Thank you for giving me some of the best moments in my personal and professional life. Thank you for being the driving force in my efforts to see the Theatre and Speech Communication Department of Salem State University and the Salem State Theatre become my “dream come true”. Here is to tomorrow. Now, go away and be creative!"
Thinking of you all, and remembering David, today and always.❤️
-Ashley Preston O’Toole '09, Theatre Coordinator
