Governing the Harvard Drama Community, HRDC Organizes Casting, Adjudicates Disputes

Last Thursday, I attended the black tie opening of Dreamgirls at the Loeb Mainstage. it was a full house; the theater packed to capacity. Everyone who was anyone in the Harvard theater community was there, dressed in their finest.

I sat musing to myself that no other college but Harvard would have the pretension to stage a black tie opening. I mean come on guys, this isn't even summer stock. It's undergraduate theater for goodness sake.

But as I watched Dreamgirls unfold, I found myself completely enthralled. The cast exhibited amazing talent, the costumes and sets were superb. The character Effie had me to the point of tears when she sang.

Who was responsible for such a professional show? Of course, the producer and director deserve much of the praise, but this was not the only impressive show I have seen at Harvard. What person or group of people on campus were responsible for organizing theater at Harvard?

The answer is the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club, better known as the HRDC. The club is governed by an executive board elected every December. Anyone who has ever participated in a show at Harvard, whether it be as cast crew or director are eligible to run for office and vote in the elections.

I spoke with Jennifer G. Uphoff, president of this year's executive board. When asked about the offical duties of the board, Uphoff replied: We have roles." The first includes being executive producers for shows put on at the Loeb Mainstage and Experimental theaters. Theirs job involves selecting, funding and publicizing the shows.

The board also serves as the "umbrella organization for Harvard drama." Uphoff says that all Harvard drama groups from the Gilbert & Sullivan players to Citystep "come under [the board's] jurisdiction."

The executive board represents these diverse groups to the Standing Committee on Dramatic Arts, a faculty planning and advisory organization, and also to the Loeb Theater's administration.

The board's major interaction with undergraduates comes through Common Casting. Each semester during shopping period, directors for every show to go up that term hold auditios. This process allows directors to observe an optimum number of performers as well as gives actors chance to try out for as many roles as they like.

The entire process is sanctioned and organized by the HRDC executive board. Common Casting is governed by an explicit set of rules which dictate the auditioning an casting process.

In the case of any wrongdoing during Common Casting, it is the HRDC's role to adjudicate disputes, a third role unmentioned by Uphoff. It is in this capacity that the board has faced controversy and censure by some in the theater community.

During the fall season, Marc Jones asked the HRDC board to intervene in casting for the show Reproducing GeorgiaJones contends that Common Casting rule was broken when Director Dvora Inwood and Producer Hubert Lin retracted a previous offer for the male lead part.

Inwood says that two of the three male parts had not been accepted after casting lists were posted. As a result, Inwood claims, she and the producer had the right to "pull from the outside"--a phrase that describes the process of auditioning and casting actors who had not originally tried out for the show. Inwood also asserts that the part was offered to Jones by the show's producer, Hubert Lin, without her prior knowledge or consent.

Upon Jones' request, the HRDC executive board looked into the matter. After separately meeting with the director, producer's and actor to hear their version of events, the board decided that the director and producer's actions constituted an infringement of casting policy. Consequently, both Inwood and Lin have been banned by the board from putting on shows next semester at the Loeb's Mainstage or Experimental theaters, the two most coveted and prestigious locations to have an HRDC show.

Inwood, a transfer from Yale, felt that the decision was unwarranted. she defended herself saying that the board's former president felt the decision was too harsh. Reproducing Georgia Inwood's first endeavor on campus and she criticizes the board for handing down such a stringent decision.

Inwood also declared that there was no appeals process available to her. The bottom line: a small group of undergraduates, the HRDC board, controls her entire theater career at Harvard. Since Inwood wanted to continue to participate in Harvard theater, she did not protest the decision, In her words, "I was new, and I didn't want to make waves."

Jones, on the other hand, believes the decision was fair, even though he had no intention of bringing up charges when the problem began. "No one felt they had to do anything," Jones says. He alleges that there has not been an incident like this one in a while and went to the board at the urging of friends also active in Harvard drama.

In his mind, these mix-ups "shouldn't happen in HRDC." And unlike Inwood, Jones does not feel that either his career or his reputation has been adversely affected by the incident.

This spring, another HRDC-related controversy reared its ugly head in the Harvard theater community. the Adams House play Mirandolina was canceled, plagued by allegations of sexual harassment from the female lead and counter-allegations from the cast about her incompatibility.

The dispute centers around the show's female lead, "Scarlett J. Marquette, and her claims of sexual harassment against Phil Munger. Marquette contends that after rebuffing Munger's sexual advances, he and fellow actor Junlian von Loesch engaged in a campaign of psychological abuse in an effort to force Marquette out of the show.

Marquette states that Munger made these advances at his apartment after inviting her there to watch a movie. Marquette accepted the invitation became they had "become friendly" during the course of rehearsals. Marquette maintains that she did not see the invitation as a date.

Marquette declares that after this incident Munger and von Loesch began to cut her off when she spoke her lines and also urged her to leave the show. Marquette cites an incident where Munger yelled out in front of the cast, "She's going to get laid" in reference to Marquette's imminent visit to her boyfriend.

Munger was unavailable for comment.

Julian von Loesch denies Marquette's claims of psychological abuse and also alleges that Munger did not sexually harass the actress. Von Loesch denies any knowledge of Marquette's alleged visit to Munger's apartment.

Von Loesch suggests that the source of the cast's incompatibility rested in Marquette's inability to "realize what it meant to be involved in theater here, and the time commitment involved...she set limitations on the hours of rehearsal."

Marquette went to the HRDC board with her complaints, and states that the board was "helpful inasmuch as they could help me." Marquette also says that "HRDC does not have rules for rules for such a situation. It's assumed that something like this will never happen. That's wishful thinking. I don't know if a group of students are capable of dealing with a problems of such magnitude."

In light of these two troubling controversies, the HRDC may want to develop a comprehensive strategy for confronting casting issues within the theater community. Rare though they may be, these disputes should be dealt with in a responsible manner.

Marquette may be right. Expecting the HRDC, an undergraduate-run organization, to arbitrate complex issues like sexual harassment is probably unrealistic. And to give that responsibility to an undergraduate group may be allowing them excessive power in areas where they carry no expertise.

The HRDC executive board should have the wisdom to pass along such sensitive deliberations to a college board capable of providing a mature forum for the issues.