Hendrix College recently suffered the loss of an alum, former faculty member, and current Hendrix parent, who touched the campus community in many ways throughout his life—Werner Trieschmann. An award-winning playwright, journalist, educator and iconoclast, he died Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. He was 60 years old.
Born John Werner Trieschmann IV in Hot Springs to Dr. John Werner Trieschmann III, a pediatrician, and Ann Grisham Trieschmann, a homemaker, he was older brother to Lamar, Timothy and Joseph. Werner attended Lakeside High School in Hot Springs and graduated from Hendrix in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts in English.
Werner Trieschmann, in 1986, working as the AV Specialist at the Arkansas Governor's School. Courtesy of Kevin Brockmeier
Hailing from a lineage of memorable Methodists such as Rev. Brantley York, founder of Duke University, and Rev. Harvey Hiram Watson, pastor of Winfield Memorial Methodist Church in Little Rock in the early 1900s, Trieschmann continued the family tradition and became a third-generation Hendrix alum. The family's roots run deep below the signature Hendrix bricks.
As members of the Trieschmann clan passed through Hendrix’s halls, amid changes such as students dancing on campus and varsity football coming and going (and coming), great-grandfather John Werner Trieschmann Jr., great-uncle Robert Trieschmann Sr., grandfather John Werner Treischmann II and aunt Virginia Trieschmann Pierson all made “Hendrix College alma mater, dear.” Trieschmann Fine Arts Building, a campus stalwart since 1962, was named for Werner Trieschmann’s great-uncle and aunt, Board trustee Adam Trieschmann and his wife, Laura. Hendrix College was the primary beneficiary of his estate; his total giving to the college made the family the largest individual benefactor in Hendrix’s history as of 1959.
Construction of the Trieschmann Fine Arts Building began a decade of growth with a significant campaign that added several buildings to the campus landscape and doubled student enrollment.
Trieschmann Fine Arts Building in its inaugural year, 1962.
While donning the orange and black, Trieschmann was active in a variety of extracurricular activities. In a run-off race, he was elected Student Senate representative as a freshman and later represented historic Martin Hall. Trieschmann joined the Troubadour yearbook staff, participated on the Hendrix golf team, served as an orientation leader for first-time students, edited the longstanding Potpourri literary magazine (now The Aonian) and was on staff of the student newspaper The Profile, where he wrote a column dubbed “Movie Previews and Breakdancing Tips.”
Hendrix Student Newspaper, The Profile, covers Student Senate race. Courtesy of the Hendrix Archives.
As a drama student, Trieschmann sat at the feet of Dr. Rosemary Henenberg, professor emerita of theatre and former Hendrix-Murphy Foundation director, and Associate Professor of Theatre Arts Frank Roland. In an interview with the podcast “Tales of the South,” he named Dr. Henenberg one of the most influential people in his life, second only to his parents.
“When I first met Werner, we were standing in the noonday sun on Winfield Street in Conway,” Henenberg recalled. “He was still in high school. I remember thinking, even then, that he was special. Forty-some-odd years later, I am confirmed in that estimate.”
In 1985, after Roland moved into an administrative role at Hendrix, Trieschmann was one of two students on the search committee that hired Professor of Theatre Arts Danny Grace ’77.
“I’ve always kidded [Werner] that he bore the responsibility of my returning to Hendrix,” Grace remembered. “As a consequence, we formed a close friendship both in and outside of our mutual artistic endeavors.”
Affectionately known as “Wormie Trashman” among the Hendrix Theatre crew—a moniker he relished—Trieschmann honed his craft as a cast or crew member on numerous productions, including “Our Town,” “The Man Who Came to Dinner,” “Talley’s Folly,” “The Happy End,” “Mrs McThing,” “The Winter’s Tale,” “Bingo” and “August Snow.”
“When he became a student at Hendrix, Werner proved himself to be a leader, an actor, a writer, eventually a playwright and a source of the joy to be found in any group he worked with,” said Henenberg.
Toward the end of their time as students, Treischmann and fellow theatre student and friend Doug Blackmon ’86— future Pulitzer-winning journalist and historian — were central in forming the Playwriting Contests, a competition for Hendrix students and alumni that was later connected to an annual staged reading event, Playwright’s Theatre. The contests, co-sponsored by the Hendrix-Murphy Foundation and the Hendrix Department of Theatre Arts and Dance, are now in their 37th year. They are judged by a professional playwright who responds to all entries with a written evaluation. Cash prizes go to the first- and second-place winners.
“Werner’s commitment and contributions to the Hendrix Theatre Department and to the Hendrix-Murphy Programs can’t be underestimated,” said Grace. “The nurturing of new plays and playwrights by way of the Hendrix Murphy Playwriting Contest and Playwright’s Theatre are a direct result of the spark provided by Werner and Doug.”
Trieschmann and Blackmon were also instrumental to the commission and performance of the play “August Snow” by Southern writer Reynolds Price at Hendrix. In his memoir “A Whole New Life,” Price noted of the Hendrix performance, “The play has been acted many times since, but no production that I’ve yet seen has surpassed that first in freshness and piercing youthful depth. No other actors, however well trained, have yet matched the sight of those young amateurs burning their intense candor and animal grace like all-but-lethal torches near us.”
After college Trieschmann earned his MFA in creative writing (playwriting) from Boston University, then returned to Arkansas. Having written his first full-length play, “Given Faith,” while still a student at Hendrix, Werner continued writing to acclaim after graduate school. His play “Lawn Dart” won first prize in the Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans New Play Competition, and he was the first playwright to win the prestigious Porter Prize, an award given annually to an Arkansas writer who’s created a compelling body of work.
“I came to know Werner on the Porter Fund Board. That's yet another place where we will grievously miss his creative ideas and his wry outlook,” said Hendrix-Murphy Director and fellow Porter Prize winner Hope Coulter.
“As a playwright, Werner has always been a creator of characters directed toward their inevitable future,” said Grace. “Playwrights like the characters they create are always waiting to be fulfilled. As a result, Werner will always be with us whenever we are fortunate to be in the presence of his work.”
Trieschmann expanded his toolbox and began working in theatre education, where he was a beloved colleague and teacher. Hired as a theatre instructor intern at Ouachita Baptist University, he worked with Dr. Scott Holsclaw, professor emeritus of music and director emeritus of instruction & learning.
“Werner's understanding of playwriting and the art of theatre made him the perfect intern during this decisive time at Ouachita,” Holsclaw remembered. “The students respected his knowledge and expertise as he guided them in the classes he taught. Several developed an interest in playwriting and had an ongoing relationship with him over the years as they pursued their playwriting careers.”
What started as humble beginnings in the pages of the Hendrix student newspaper as a column reviewing movies and other absurdities, would later morph into a very real part of Trieschmann’s career as a journalist, freelance writer and columnist. He would write for such outlets as the Arkansas Times, Boston Phoenix, Nashville Scene and Memphis Flyer. Trieschmann also previously edited the Sunday Style section for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and wrote often for that publication.
As a playwright, Trieschmann was hands-on and put bits of himself in whatever he wrote.
“I directed and collaborated with Werner on his play ‘Lawn Dart,’” Holsclaw added. “His unique style and absurdist view of the world were one of a kind. It was hard to pigeonhole Werner in any particular theatrical genre, as his sense of humor and understanding of human nature drove him to develop unique plots and outrageous characters.”
Henenberg’s perspective of Trieschmann as a playwright reads similarly.
“That combination of dark and bright was his genius,” she said. “He could look folly, even vice, in the face and not lose his grip or his always-bubbling humor. His interests were wide-ranging, as evidenced by subjects of his plays—the photographer Disfarmer and the game lawn darts, and so on and on. Most especially, he made people feel good about themselves.”
Trieschmann taught playwriting as an adjunct faculty member at home in the Hendrix theatre department from 2012-2017. Hendrix Professor of Theatre Arts Ann Muse ’83 recalled, “As a colleague, I appreciated the ease and playfulness he had with his students. He allowed them freedom to find their voices in writing plays. His quirky sense of humor, at first blush, masked his thoughtful, deep understanding of literature and the human condition.”
He also stayed connected to his roots at the Hendrix-Murphy Foundation.
“In the 20 years I’ve been with the Hendrix-Murphy Foundation, Werner has been a fixture in our programming through both his long-term stint as a playwriting instructor and his participation in the Hendrix-Murphy Alumni Playwriting Contest and Playwright’s Theatre programs as, variously, an actor, a director and the winning playwright whose play is given a staged reading,” said Hendrix-Murphy Assistant Director Sarah Engeler-Young ’92. “From my first interaction with Werner in the early 1990s when he taught me to write a 10-minute play to our most recent chat at a Murphy post-lecture reception, he never failed to make at least one remark that would cause me to double over with laughter. The kindness and humor of his presence will surely be missed.”
Trieschmann also taught at Pulaski Technical College, where he continued the “Big Rock on the Map” series, which brought “writers, actors, artists, musicians, and professionals from all art disciplines to campus to foster appreciation and understanding of the arts” and was free to the public. Pulaski Tech Chair of Languages and Communication Logan Oliver valued his personal relationship with him.
“I was welcomed with sincerity, kindness and appreciation in every interaction [Werner] and I shared,” Oliver said. “His wit, sense of humor and love for his family were the highlights of our conversations. I was also lucky enough to see his work from page to production. I was in awe of him as a writer, director and all-around creative mind.”
It’s hard to conceptualize theatre in Arkansas in the last 40 years without Werner Trieschmann, whether in the role of playwright, reviewer, actor or educator. Even his lifelong love started in the realm of the stage; he met his wife, Martha Castleberry Trieschmann ’92, through the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. They were married at the Rep in 1999. They have two sons, John Werner Trieschmann V, a fourth-generation Hendrix student, and Kenneth “Kit” Trieschmann, a student at the University of Arkansas.
Hendrix Legacy Luncheon in 2022. Pictured left to right: Kit Trieschmann, John Trieschmann '25, Martha Castleberry Trieschmann '92, and Werner Trieschmann '86.
Recently Henenberg reflected on Trieschmann and his doings.
“To the end, Werner was writing, thinking deeply, questioning mightily and playing around.”
Whether that was announcing annual birthday tidings from his local institution of banking on his Facebook page or the recent Substack blog, “Coping Mechanism,” started out of angst after the 2024 presidential election, Werner always had something to say.
Danny Grace said it best: “Just look for Werner downstage center. He’ll be in the light.”