ACTORS' BRIEF

In the front now reigns that extraordinary specimen of balanced brain, brawn, and emotion known as the "normal youth"; there doctors solicitously question him in efforts to learn why he is. But in the rear of the Dunster Court, the Harvard Dramatic Society will pursue its unpublicized course, considerably out of the main current of undergraduate activities, but nevertheless serving a valuable purpose in the limited circle for which it is organized.

Harvard's theatrical group is the butt of frequent criticism for its policies in general and its choice of plays in particular, which often seem exotic and unpleasant to undergraduate palates. Criticism, however, arises from a misapprehension of the Society's limitations and functions. Since Boston possesses the second most active theatre in America, the Harvard club finds itself unable to compete with commercial productions. It cannot cater successfully to undergraduates since they will invariably prefer the professional to the amateur "High Tor" when in search of an evening's entertainment. Hence, the Dramatic Society is in a totally different position from that of the Princeton Theatre Intime or the Amherst Masquers, the productions of which are highlights of the college social season, and which are consequently closely integrated with college life.

Harvard's group must turn elsewhere for its reason for existence. One important function is the production of undergraduate plays; but lacking suitable ones, it still serves a purpose by staging other unusual or interesting works which might otherwise go unproduced. A second function is actual experience, otherwise unavailable at Harvard, in acting, producing, and stage setting. A final and not most unimportant purpose, according to Sir Cedric Hardwicke, is recreation--dramatics for the love of the art.

To stage-minded students, the Dramatic Society is just as important as the Debating Council is to prospective orators. Hence it is just as deserving of a University subsidy: a money grant which would enable it to hire a manager, to stage more elaborate productions, to secure better directors. As much as money, however, does the Society need a charitable appreciation, by undergraduates, of its true place in the University scheme.