Forum Members Stress 'Quality' Drama

The Loeb Drama Center should not be a school, yet should serve an educational purpose, Archibald MacLeish, Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory and member of the Faculty Committee on Theatre explained last night.

Speaking at the Student Council forum on "The Future of Harvard Drama," MacLeish stated that emphasis in the new theatre must be on quality and on producing plays which audiences will attend and "sit through not out of loyalty, but out of love."

"Leave aside questions about freedom," MacLeish said. "All the present facilities will stand there for organizations to do anything they want." He added that the Loeb should be regarded as simply another facility.

Jan Hartman '60, chairman of the Student Council committee on drama, questioned, however, complete emphasis on quality, stating that "College drama must have the latitude to make mistakes."

No Policy Disclosures

The forum, described by one panel member as a "mutual groping," revealed no definite policy decisions on the administration of the Loeb Center. Hugh A. Stubbins, Jr., architect of the theatre, reviewed briefly the features of the building, explaining its adaptability to proscenium, Elizabethan, and full-round productions.

Joel F. Henning '61, president of the Harvard Dramatic Club, opened the question of University control of productions in the Loeb Theatre. He cautioned that the necessary and desirable pooling of technical personnel, costumes, and stage scenery, together with the loss of sole responsibility for selecting plays might tend to render College-wide theatrical groups superfluous.

MacLeish replied that even if a combined Faculty-student committee should be set up to approve productions in the new theatre, there was no reason why the HDC could not submit briefs of plays which it wished to produce. "The HDC might serve as a valuable agency in first screening suggestions," MacLeish said.

Disturbed by the questions of several members of the audience as to control policies and financial advantages of the Loeb, MacLeish mentioned lightly that he "almost detected an undertone that we should never have built the theatre."

In discussing the future status of House dramatic productions, Steven Aaron '57, secretary of the Faculty Committee on Theatre, speculated that House theatre might have reached a stage where "they are doing plays because it is the thing to do." He suggested that the Houses might find a new function in producing plays in which students are interested, but which can not be fitted into the Loeb Theatre schedule.