One of the worst natural disasters in Dayton's history was brought to the stage in November when the Department of Theatre Arts presented the world premiere of 1913: The Great Dayton Flood, an original play co-authored by department chair W. Stuart McDowell and senior theatre student Tim Nevits. In staging the production, the playwrights drew upon the creative resources and talents of the university and beyond, with music by the WSU Gospel Choir and recorded narration by actors Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, and Dayton native Martin Sheen. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-nominated book, Time of Terror: The Great Dayton Flood by Allan Eckert, the play featured scenic projections of actual film footage and photos taken during those seven days in March 1913 when the city's four converging rivers overflowed into the streets of Dayton, killing 300. In writing the script, the playwrights incorporated accounts from interviews with flood survivors as well as information gleaned from NCR archives.

The play, which was funded in part by the Frank M. Tait Foundation and the Mary E. Gunderson Endowment Fund of the Dayton Foundation, was Wright State's contribution to Celebration Dayton '96, Dayton's 200th anniversary celebration.