Discuss Arts

Is there anybody out there? Although we on The Crimson's Arts page like to imagine that an adoring public awaits our every word, the perpetual dearth of letters received has threatened our fantasy. When readers do write to us, their letters usually damage our dream world even further. Often they contain a violent denunciation of a negative review that one of our staff members has written. Praiseladen letters are few, and commentaries on cultural issues at Harvard are non-existent. We can't do much about the first two categories, but we would like to encourage the third.

Ideally, the Arts page should be more than a detatched series of reviews. The page should also provide a forum for discussion of cultural issues and events at Harvard, a means by which readers can air their opinions on a wide variety of artistic topics. While some of the potential topics are serious, all of them need not be.

Should the government sponsor controversial exhibits and shows? Has the American Repertory Theater helped or hindered undergraduate drama? Does the fact that approximately 80 percent of the nudes at the Fogg Museum are female demean women? Do Harvard students perform too many Shakespeare plays and not enough Broadway musicals? We'd like your opinions.

To begin, we invite commentary on experimental theater at Harvard and the role of the Loeb Experimental Theater in furthering (or hindering) this type of drama. What qualities make a particular piece of theater experimental? Are there certain formats (musicals, for example) which restrain or preclude experimental staging? Would this type of theater be performed at Harvard without a space devoted entirely to the genre? How well does the Ex live up its promise of providing experimental theater?

Submissions should be between one and two typed pages in length, and they should include the author's name and phone number. Please send to: Arts Editor, The Harvard Crimson, 14 Plympton St., Cambridge, Mass. 02138.