Ronald Davis, born 1945 in Waterville, Maine, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bowdoin College, where he studied English Literature, with a concentration in Shakespeare, Medieval Prose and Poetry, and Literary Criticism. From his research at the New York Pro Musica Society, Davis conceived and directed at Bowdoin a Medieval Pageant, which included productions of Everyman and the Wakefield Noah. The Pageant, complete with torchlight procession, musicians, jugglers, and mimes, was well received by the faculty and students, the public and the press and became an annual event at the college.