Brown Will Recommend New University Theatre

Prospects for a theatre at Harvard improved when John Mason Brown '23 announced last night he would offer recommendations for a concerted drive at the meeting of the Board of Overseers next month.

Brown, prominent theatre critic and chairman of the committee set up last year to investigate the possibility of a theatre at Harvard, said, "There's not a nickel in the till right now. But I swear this is not an abandoned cause."

Preliminary Discussion

A preliminary discussion group, including Robert E. Shorwood '18 and Donald M. Oenslager '23, met two weeks ago to debate ways for raising money, and the kind of theatre desired. The committee has not so far solicited small donations.

Plans for a combined auditorium-theatre, seating over a 1000, and a "Public Arts Center," with additional facilities for radio, television, and movie production, have definitely been abandoned, due to excessive cost. A "Theatre Arts Building," seating 600 people, and including space for storage and a separate rehearsal stage in the basement, seems most likely to be built. Brown put the cost of such a building at $500,000 for construction, and an additional $750,000 endowment for maintenance.

Brown pointed to MIT's projected "spherical triangle" building as an example to Harvard, claiming that this is "the only great university without such a theatre." Though an MIT official stated last week that its new building will probably be available to Harvard theatrical productions next year, Brown felt that this still does not meet the need here, since the Tech building has a capacity of only 200.

"Construction of a theatre," he added, "should be a spur to dramatic activity at Harvard, and this should be an integral part of undergraduate life. The necessity for local dramatic activity is especially acute since the demise of the Brattle Theatre last fall."

Brown cited President Conant's Annual Report of two years ago. In it, Conant called for a "scheme of fellowships connected with the dramatic arts" and "the construction of a theater building to serve as a focal center."

"The faculty is anxious to encourage those many undergraduate organizations that regularly produce plays; their efforts are now greatly hampered by the total lack of acceptable facilities," Conant said.