Melvin “Mel” White was born ten miles east of Chugwater, Wyoming, in January of 1911. During several moves to New York, Iowa and Wisconsin, he managed to graduate from high school in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, earn a B.A. and M.A. from the State University of Iowa, and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. With time out to serve in the Navy during World War II, he had taught for forty-two years when he retired from Brooklyn College, the City University of New York, in 1968. Since his retirement, he has been on the faculties of California State University, Hayward; California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; University of Hawaii, Hilo; Chaminade College, Honolulu; and the University of Arizona.

As a lecturer and “joke-teller,” he has appeared in a variety of locales, from Nihon University in Tokyo and the International Institute, Madrid, Spain, to the East-West Center, Honolulu, and the Canal Zone. He has judged plays for the United States Army in Japan, Korea, Europe and the Caribbean, and conducted Readers Theatre workshops and directed plays worldwide.

Dr. White has had seventeen books published and 107 plays, including co-authorship of Readers Theatre Handbook: A Dramatic Approach to Literature, the first book on this performance art. Past President of the Army Theatre Association, Past Executive Secretary of the American Educational Theatre Association, Mel is a member of the College of Fellows of the American Theatre. He occasionally teaches Elderhostel classes, recently at Southern Oregon State College, Oregon, and West Liberty State College, West Virginia. “But I am slowing down,” he admits with a grin.