June 17, 1941— Sept. 5, 2025
“And though she be but little, she is fierce.”
— Helena, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
Dr. Mary Zenet Maher, 84, passed away peacefully in her home in Medford, Oregon, on Sept. 5, 2025. She was a producer, dramaturg, educator, and author. She lived in Ashland for 20 years after she retired from the University of Arizona, where she was granted the designation of professor emerita.
Mary was born on June 17, 1941, in Mason City, Iowa. She was one of four children and the only daughter of Jack and Maxine Maher. She was preceded in death by her parents and two older brothers, Timothy and Daniel. She is survived by her younger brother Thomas Maher of Bethesda, Maryland, and five nephews, a niece, and many “Buzzin’ Cuzzins.”
Dr. Maher received her bachelor of arts degree in Speech and Dramatic Art from the University of Iowa in 1963. After teaching high school English and drama in Vancouver, Washington, and a stint working for Pacific Northwest Bell in Seattle, she went back to the University of Iowa in 1970 to obtain a master of arts degree in Dramatic Art. Mary completed her doctoral studies at the University of Michigan in 1973, where she received a degree as a Doctor of Philosophy in Performance Studies.
She began her teaching career at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, in 1972, but by 1974, had begun her long relationship with the University of Arizona, first in the Speech Communications Department and then, in 1987, she joined the Theatre Arts Department. In 1995, Mary was promoted to the rank of professor. She retired in 2001.
Mary is best known as the author of the performance classic “Modern Hamlets and Their Soliloquies” and the biography “Nicholas Pennell: Risking Enchantment.” Her 50-plus articles focused on Shakespeare in performance on stage, in film, and on television. She embraced the principles of “Readers’ Theater” and produced dozens of readings of Shakespeare’s plays at the University of Arizona and elsewhere.
During her career, Mary participated in National Endowment for the Humanities seminars at The Folger Library with Bernard Beckerman and Michael Goldman; was funded by the American Association of University Women fellowships and residencies at Centro Studi Liguiri in Italy; worked on the Time-Life/BBC Television Shakespeare Plays series; and juried in fine arts in the U.S. Department of Education Jacob Javits and AAUW Fellowships programs.
In her retirement, Mary continued to write, teach, coach, and travel internationally. She also served as dramaturg for Shakespeare productions on academic stages, especially at the University of Richmond in Virginia. In Ashland, she was a frequent lecturer on productions at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for many alumni and other civic groups.
In 2014, Mary, along with Dr. Alan Armstrong, professor emeritus at Southern Oregon University, interviewed more than a dozen Oregon Shakespeare Festival actors about their process of preparing and performing Shakespeare. These interviews provided the basis for their book “Telling The Story: Oregon Shakespeare Festival Actors.”
She was fiercely independent and had a great eye for art and fashion, especially rings and eyeglasses. She was devoted to Trader Joe’s. She was a charming provocateur and was always giving tips to early-career scholars on how to navigate the academic system.
Mary was a proud Iowa democrat. She held election night parties, and they were wonderfully raucous affairs. She came to her love of rhetoric and politics naturally: her father was the publisher of the West Branch Times in Iowa, and her mother was also the mayor of the town.
She was a classic “cat lady,” and it was a great comfort that she could have her beloved Lucky Pucky with her when she moved to Farmington Square a few years ago.
Mary’s papers reside in the special collections of The Hannon Library at Southern Oregon University. Contributions can be made in her name to the library, giving.sou.edu/library.
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