Adams

Drag queens have always found a home in Adams.

From the house's seditious masquerade ball to the "M. Adams" pageant, which this year included men dressed in eatable body wraps, Adams has traditionally added a radical element to the campus.

House Master Robert J. Kiely '60 says the atmosphere Adams House has sustained over the years has provided fertile ground for the growth of a variety of movements ranging from the political to the dramatic.

In 1990, for example, a group of Adams' gay residents staged a "kiss-in" at the Mather House Dining Hall to protest Mather students' criticisms of open displays of affection between same-sex couples, according to former Adams resident Jessica Steigerwald '90.

Kiely says that Adams has intentionally developed its radical image in order to offer an alternative to the other, more traditional river houses.

Student response to the unusual character Adams House has adopted has been continuously strong, Kiely says.

"When students could choose [their own housing], Adams was always the top choice for a majority of students," he says.

"The personality [of Adams House] has been sustained over the years in a sense that the House is based on open-mindedness and a resistance to conformity," Kiely says. "We take pride in not going with the mainstream."

The Adams house master says he fears that much of Adams' uniqueness may be lost in the coming years due to randomization.

And if students do not realize the importance of maintaining Adams' special brand of diversity, students may lose the community which currently shelters them, he says.

"People liked a house with character, but we will do our best to make everyone welcome," Kiely says.

"My greatest fear is that every house will become a dorm where everyone hangs out with their rooming group," he says.

Maintaining the sense of community is particularly important for Adams, Kiely says, because its various nooks and crannies make it "conducive to being left alone."

In 1973, several Adams residents took their house's radical image to new lengths. They organized a gay rights movement that has since become a major presence on campus.

Kiely says that Adams residents initiated the gay rights campaign, writing petitions and arranging meetings which resulted in the formation of the Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Students Alliance (BGLSA).

"It took a lot of nerve, but they had tremendous support from Adams House tutors and residents," Kiely says.

But in addition to social and political activism, Adams residents have been on the forefront of artistic innovation.

"In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Peter O. Sellar '58 formed a circle of actors and directors which acted as the catalysts of experimental drama," Kiely says.

This experimental drama movement led to the creation of the Pool Theater, one of Adams House's most striking and unusual features to this day.

Kiely says Sellar organized several shows, including "Antony and Cleopatra," that were set in oceanic locales conducive to being performed in the Adams House pool.

Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III says he recalls the innovative nature of Adams House productions during this period.

"I remember Sellar did a play on rafts," Epps says. "His experimental drama was always unusual."

Over time, the acts grew wilder and the clothing got skimpier, culminating in several productions during the mid 1960s that took the campus by storm.

Epps says "The Beggar's Opera," starring John A. Lithgow '67, was only one of many smash hits the Adams House theatrical team produced during this period.

The pool eventually broke down, and in late 1993, it was re-opened as an experimental theater.

The advent of randomization, Kiely says, will have a tremendous impact on the character of Adams, although he cannot determine precisely what will change.

But Kiely says he hopes that regardless of the composition of the student population in Adams, the tradition of open-mindedness will continue.