Kenneth Thorpe Rowe - Generosity To His Students

Generosity To His Students

Kenneth Rowe's kindness and generosity were legendary and inspired great devotion in his students. According to an article in Michigan Today, Rowe helped Arthur Miller in making his first steps in Broadway by connecting him with people Rowe knew personally in the theater world. When another of his students, Josh Greenfeld, graduated from Michigan, Rowe referred him to Arthur Miller.

Rowe’s student Robert A. Martin (1930–2008) wrote his doctoral dissertation on Miller under Rowe’s direction and went on to edit The Theater Essays of Arthur Miller. Martin spent most of his career teaching literature, drama, and creative writing at Michigan, and remained lifelong friends with his mentor. For his 1982 collection Arthur Miller: New Perspectives, Martin asked Rowe to write a special essay-memoir, "Shadows Cast Before," in which Rowe recalled and analyzed Miller’s work as a student playwright at Michigan. As Rowe wrote in the opening passage of his essay,

"The image of Arthur Miller as a student at the University of Michigan that recurs most frequently and vividly to my mind comes from the spring of 1938, his senior year....I was in my office at my desk....There was a knock on the door, slightly ajar for the spring weather, and I called "Come in." The door swung open, Arthur stepped inside and stopped at the foot of the steps, looking up, eyes glowing and face alight; and that is the picture that is in my mind, the moment before he announced, 'Professor Rowe, I've made a discovery!'"

To Rowe’s delight, Martin and Miller opened the Theater Essays with the following joint dedication: "For Kenneth Thorpe Rowe--teacher, scholar, friend."