Charles Playhouse Picks Director

The Charles Playhouse threw in its lot with Consciousness III last week by announcing the appointment of 25-year-old Allan Albert as the theatre's new artistic director.

Exorcise the Moribund

Albert, an Amherst graduate and Yale Drama dropout, has directed "The Proposition," Cambridge's long-running improvisational review, since June 1969. He plans to operate the Charles on a year-round basis in an effort to resurrect the theatre from its current moribundity.

The Charles, Boston's only resident professional theatre, had been forced to close for the season last October due to a $200,000 operating deficit which highlighted a number of years of fiscal difficulty.

Albert said he hopes both to "bring the theatre back to the people," and to emphasize "the work of exciting, young directors." Andre Gregory, Paul Sills, and Richard Gillman are among those directors that Albert hopes to bring to Boston.

Meanwhile, he and newly-appointed general manager Cynthia Parker must find the necessary foundation grants that will permit them to open a new season next fall. The Charles's Board of Directors have already raised $200,000 which is currently being held in escrow until foundation grants are found to match it.