FUTILITARIANISM

The Harvard Dramatic Club once had a purpose behind its activities that made it a gonuine force in the American theatrical world. That time lasted as long as the Club maintained a policy of attempting to carry out some functional design in all its production, as long as its destinies were governed by some creative criterion that was founded on sound artistic principles.

Such a policy took the form of an ayowed intention to work only with plays that were original or new to the American stage. This standard gave the Club a working basis on which to develop beyond the scope of ordinary amateur theatricals.

In recent years the Club has been wobbling. From season to season the policy has vacillated, jumping from exotic spectacles to mediocre attempts at Broadway entertainment. The final result of this shifting platform is the announcement of a fall production that completely repudiates the old principle of the Club.

One regrets the present step not only because it is abandoning a tried and sure program, but because the new attitude is so entirely unworthy of the former. For the Dramatic Club to plan it presentation with no other end than offering what any second-rate stock company can give is to admit of very limited ambitions.