Resigning Director Attacks Dramatic Club For Dropping Production of 'Mannerhouse'

In a statement deploring the cancellation of the Dramatic Club's projected production of Thomas Wolfe's "Manner-house," William A. West '49, who was scheduled to direct the play, last night questioned the explanation advanced by H.D.C. president Paul S. Burggraf '48.

"College theater must be experimental theater," West asserted after his resignation in protest to the H.D.C. executive committee's action.

West quoted Burggraf as attributing the decision to the executive committee's belief that "Mannerhouse was not a play; that since the New York production of the play had been dropped, the H.D.C. would not receive national publicity for its pro-Broadway performance; and that the Club would risk the prestige it gained from its recent production of 'Adam the Creator' if it went ahead with 'Mannerhouse." The former H.D.C. director challenged the validity of these reasons.

"The casting difficulties mentioned by Burggraf in the CRIMSON were those any director might go through when casting a play he considers of some importance," West asserted. "I certainly made no remark to the members of the H.D.C. to the effect that I believed the play could not be adequately cast," he added.

"Although I don't believe that the H.D.C. will have another opportunity to do 'Mannerhouse,' I am still convinced that it should be presented here," he stated.