MacLeish Proposes New Theatre Fellowship Plan

A graduate fellowship plan in the "field of theatre and public arts" was advocated by Archibald MacLeish, Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory, in a statement to the CRIMSON yesterday. Patterned on the Nieman Fellowships, this project would have as its working center of activity the theatre unanimously proposed last November by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

The proposed theatre has not yet been approved by the Administration, but MacLeish pointed out that "should approval be granted," the new study plan would allow playwrights, directors, producers, and actors, to meet at Harvard in an exchange of ideas and learning, giving the University body an atmosphere of the "master-and-apprentice" relationship.

The expression "public arts," as used by MacLeish includes the fields of drams, motion pictures, radio, and television.

Lauds Nieman Plan

Currently, Nieman Fellowships provide one year of study at Harvard for 12 of the nation's young reporters, editors, and publishers. These fellowships, says MacLeish, have "created a relationship between the University and the Press . . ." that has had "a marked and welcome influence on faculty and undergraduates alike."

MacLeish added that this relationship has been created "not through a professional school of journalism ... but through the presence of working news papermen in the University community."

"It may not be possible to plan now for the financing and construction of such a theatre and fellowship setup, but full discussion of the project is surely not premature; if anything, it is belated," said MacLeish.

Previous to the administration of President Conant, consideration for a theatre met with Administration disapproval on the grounds that a theatre and drama school would be offering too specialized a training.