Hartman Resigns Post On Drama Committee

Jan S. Hartman '60-3 yesterday resigned as chairman of the Student Council committee on dramatics. "My personal opinions are standing in the way of my objectivity in dealing fairly with questions concerning Harvard theatre," he stated last week in a letter to Edward L. Croman '60, president of the Council.

Hartman explained last night that he is disappointed by "the continual shallowness of thought" shown by both Faculty and students on proposed Administration plans for the Loeb Drama Center. He claimed that everyone involved in student theater is "concerned with personal aggrandizement" and no one with "the theater as a form of self expression."

Hartman stated that "the individual is being ignored by all parties." All planning, he feels, is for a system which "will create the impression of quality and creativity." The Faculty Committee on Dramatics appears to Hartman to be "thinking in terms of an externally polished, rather than a personally expressive, theatre."

Quality Requires Sincerity

"Quality in student theatre." Hartman claimed, "goes hand-in-hand with sincerity." When a production staff finds personal expression, a production "even though rough-cut technically" has the "quality of honesty and meaningful endeavor."

The Loeb Drama Center, Hartman said, should "provide the freest possible place for the student dramatist to work out his impressions of life in theatrical terms."

Croman said last night that he was "sorry to see the Council lose Jan's services," but sympathized with the conscientious reasons for his decision."