been
one of the perennial charms of the opera in undergraduate estimation.
The first opera, given in 1908, was entitled _Michigenda_ and became
instantly popular, not only because of its novelty and the excellence of
its music, but also because its plot was built about the local color of
undergraduate life, a precedent which, unfortunately, has not always
been followed in later operas. The 1920 opera, _George Did It_, was
artistically as well as financially the most successful of the Union's
productions. Five or six performances are usually given in Ann Arbor,
and of late years a trip during the spring vacation through the cities
of Michigan and occasionally to Chicago has drawn large audiences of
alumni and others, attracted by the real merit and novelty of this
student effort. Not to be outdone by the men of the University, the
junior class women have also, for some years, presented a similar
extravaganza which, though not open to the general public, is always
noted for its cleverness and real humor.

For some twelve years also a feature of the Commencement program has
been the annual play given by the senior girls, usually on Tuesday
evening of Commencement Week. The list of plays presented includes, _She
Stoops to Conquer_, (1905); _The Knight of the Burning Pestle_, (1906);
_Cranford_, (1908); Euripides' _Alcestis_, (1912), in which the
classical entrance to Alumni Memorial Hall was used most effectively;
_Prunella_, (1914); _The Piper_, (1916); and in 1919, Percy McKaye's _A
Thousand Years Ago_. Within recent years, "Masques," an organization of
University women, has given unusually artistic performances of Pinero's
_The Amazons_, (1918), and Barrie's _Quality Street_, (1919). The
Department of Oratory has also interested itself in the drama and is
responsible for several well-considered presentations of such plays as
Galsworthy's _Silver Box_; Kennedy's _The Servant in the House_, (1916);
Ibsen's _Pillars of Society_, (1917); and Masefield's _Tragedy of Nan_,
(1918).

Contemporary interest in pageantry has likewise not been without its
effect in the University, as was shown by a praiseworthy though perhaps
over-ambitious pageant, _Joan of Arc_, given under the auspices of the
Woman's League on Ferry Field in 1914, and a less elaborate but more
effective celebration of the Shakespeare Centenary two years later,
entitled _The Queen's Progress_, given in Hill Auditorium. The
Cosmopolitan Club, composed of the fore