Sharla Cowden is a talent whisperer, newlywed, and businesswoman with an artist’s heart. For 25 years, the Oklahoma native has helped guide the University of Evansville’s acclaimed Theatre Department, traveling to 10 states to recruit students and becoming a surrogate mother to them in the process. Turn the page to find out what brought her to the Hoosier State, how “power-consuming” media is her hobby, and why her office is stuffed full of rubber ducks.
You’re a newlywed! How did you meet your husband, Don Hooper?
I met Don 24 hours after I graduated high school in 1984. I was a member of the teen company at the Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival, and he was the scenic designer that summer. He’s nine years older than I am. He has no memory of meeting me that summer, which is probably fine — I was only 17 years old. Then in 2012, I saw him at a recruiting event in Plano, Texas, and he asked me if I would come in early a year later and go out to dinner with him. We did long distance for 10 years. He retired after 38 years teaching theatre at Centenary College of Louisiana and then moved here in May 2023. We got married in September 2024. … I never thought I would get married, actually, so getting married at 58, it feels easy and peaceful. I feel like I really know who I am. He really knows who he is. And, we’ve known each other for over 40 years, so that’s kind of wild to think about, too.
You don’t have children of your own, except for Don’s adult son, but …
I feel like I have a lot of kids. [laughs] A lot of students say, “That’s my mama,” that kind of thing. It’s been really great to watch people flourish. My friend Tay Ruthenburg teases me because he’s always like, “Oh, what are you going to do when so-and-so graduates?” … I never let myself … want to hoard them. That is just not in my nature. I really do believe it has to be about what’s next.
How did you become connected to UE Theatre while working at the University of Oklahoma?
At a recruiting event in Texas — all my big life changes happened in recruiting events in Texas [laughs] — I met [late UE department chair] John David Lutz. He was speaking with Kae Koger, who was the dramaturg at the University of Oklahoma and happened to be a University of Evansville alum. She introduced me to him, and he said that he was looking for someone to be the marketing director and head of the theatre management program. And Kae said, “She’s the best, but you can’t have her. She’s ours.” She walked away, and I said, “I actually might be interested in that position.” And it shocked me because I was really happy there.
What cemented your decision to join UE Theatre?
Kae said this statement: “It’s just a pretty magical place.” I remember thinking, “Oh, I want to work in a magical place.”
You audition 2,000-plus students a year. How do you pinpoint which path they’d be most successful studying?
I will see a student audition and they have a really great presence. I’ll think, “You’re not going to be one of the 16 actors that we take, but there’s something about you.” I look at their resume and I notice, “Look at all of this student government. They’re president of their thespian association. They’re student council president. They’re head of the cheerleading squad. They’re a Girl Scout.” … Sometimes I do break their heart when I say, “I’m not calling you back for you to be an actor here. But if you’re interested in having a life in the theatre, have I got a deal for you.”
Tell us about your hobbies.
My best girlfriends tease me because I literally have no hobbies. I would say that I am an “indoor enthusiast” who enjoys power-consuming media (television, films, books, theatre, etc.). What I mean by “power-consuming” is binge-watching streaming television, watching a double feature at a movie theater, beginning and finishing a novel in one day, or going to New York City for three days to see five plays. I also like having dinner with people, including college students one night and dear friends in their 70s another night.
What’s one of the biggest ways Evansville has changed since you moved here in 2001?
The revitalization of Downtown has been exciting to witness. Evansville is such a vital community and boasts truly essential arts and cultural attractions that make it a lovely place to live.
What will be your career’s epitaph?
I have loved getting to spend my life with artists. It’s been the privilege of my life.
FEELING DUCKY
University of Evansville theatre management students are nicknamed “ducks,” after retired professor and costume designer Patti McCrory said, “they certainly help us artists keep our ducks in a row.” “I try to teach them to remain calm on the surface but paddle like the devil underneath,” Sharla Cowden says. The nickname took off, and now an entire wall of her office is filled with gifts of rubber bath toys, hand puppets, stuffed animals, and even wooden sculptures. “I did not realize how ingrained it had become in our culture here until I went to a dress rehearsal, and I heard the stage manager call: ‘Cue duck speech: quack, quack, quack,’” she laughs.
