Joseph W. Donohue Jr. *65

A theater historian, Joe died Dec. 11, 2023, in South Hadley, Mass., of complications of major surgery.

Born Sept. 12, 1935, in Brookline, Mass., he earned a bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins, a master’s degree from Georgetown, and a Ph.D. in English from Princeton in 1965.

In 1971, Joe joined the faculty at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His specialties were British, Irish, and American theater from the late 18th century to the present.

His books include Dramatic Character in the English Romantic Age (Princeton University Press), a reconstructive study of the first production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, critical editions of Oscar Wilde’s plays for Oxford University Press, and a new edition of Wilde’s Salome with illustrations by artist Barry Moser.

Joe founded and edited the journal Nineteenth Century Theatre. He was the general editor of “The London Stage 1800-1900: A Documentary Record and Calendar of Performances,” a computer-based research program that provides information about the 19th-century London theater.  He was the first scholar to take a personal computer into the reading room of the Folger Shakespeare Library.

Performance was important in Joe’s scholarship and teaching, and outside of work he used his rich bass-baritone voice to play the heavies in local productions of Gilbert and Sullivan operas.

Joe is survived by his wife, Judith Wightman; daughters Sharon and Sheila; stepdaughter Caitlin; and two grandchildren.

Graduate alumni memorials are prepared by the APGA.