Gift Celebrates a Passion for Theatre

In 2007, with the Playhouse Theatre slated for renovation, private support was needed to supplement State of Washington funds for the project. Fortunately, University leaders knew the perfect donor for the project: Floyd Jones.

Jones had funded the first endowed chair in the arts at the University—a position that rotates among the University’s arts units—and was hesitant to make another major gift. But he soon realized that the theatre would be a fitting tribute to his beloved wife Delores, a lifelong theatergoer, who passed away in 2005.

Floyd explains that Delores had a passion for theatre. The couple frequented Seattle theatres regularly and sampled theatre offerings in every city they visited. Once, holed up in a London hotel room for a week, both of them suffering with the flu, Delores still insisted that they venture out each night to catch a local theatre production. “When it came to theatre, it was do or die for Delores,” Floyd recalls with a laugh.

Delores was equally dedicated to good citizenship. She campaigned for political candidates, rang doorbells in her district, worked at the polls, and marched in demonstrations. So it’s no surprise that she and Floyd were in the audience—at the Playhouse Theatre, appropriately—when the UW School of Drama presented All Things Necessary and Convenient, a politically charged play about the anti-communist Canwell Hearings.

That was just one of the many controversial productions that found a home at the Playhouse through the years. As early as the 1930s, the theatre was bucking tradition, serving as a venue for the Negro Theatre Unit (part of the Work Progress Administration’s Federal Theatre Project)—one of the earliest instances of black and white actors performing together on stage. The theatre’s owners at the time, Burton and Florence James, were later investigated by the Canwell Committee, in large part due to their theatre’s political bent. (See related story.) 

All this makes the theatre wonderfully appropriate for Delores, who championed for social justice. “When I learned about the theatre’s controversial history, it just made it more interesting,” Floyd says. “It’s been quite dynamic, with several rises and falls.”

The Jones’s own story provides a few surprises as well. Now major donors to the University, both Floyd and Delores came from quite humble beginnings—especially Floyd, whose parents were poor sharecroppers in Missouri. He was the eleventh of twelve children and the first in his family to finish high school or graduate college. Both Floyd and Delores graduated from the UW, he in economics, she in sociology. Delores worked as a social worker; Floyd became a successful investment broker, a career he enjoys to this day. After 55 years, he still heads into the office each morning.

Floyd attended the renovated theatre’s “soft” opening in March—a student production of Our Town—which was an opportunity for the School of Drama to work out all the theatre’s last minute kinks prior to the building’s official fall opening. After attending the play, Floyd gave a hearty thumbs up to the renovated theatre. He noted the excellent acoustics, the improved sight lines, and the “much roomier” lobby. He is pleased that the theatre now houses state-of-the-art equipment. But his favorite improvement? The seats, of course. “They’re so much better,” he enthuses. “They’re excellent seats. The others were hard on the behind for a two-hour play.”

With the Floyd and Delores Jones Playhouse now a reality, Floyd enjoys passing by the building on occasion, taking note of the activity within. In addition to serving as a venue for theatrical productions, the Jones Playhouse is a classroom for courses such as lighting design and theatre makeup.

“I look forward to the theatre playing a positive role in the campus life of the students,” he says. “I hope students take time out of their busy lives to see some good plays.”

That would certainly please Delores, who found so much enjoyment in the stage. What would she think of a theatre bearing her name? “I think she’d be overwhelmed,” says Floyd. “She was quite a private person, and very frugal. She never had expectations that we might be able to do such a thing. It’s a wonderful theatre. I think she’d be very happy with it.”