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Although hundreds of undergraduates participate in extracurricular theater every semester, drama continues to occupy a secondary position within Harvard's broad curriculum.

But students and faculty say that drama should not necessarily be considered less important than other academic pursuits.

Students cannot declare a concentration in drama, even though professors from the English department and the American Repertory Theater (ART) offer related courses. A standing committee, rather than a department, controls the academic side of drama at Harvard.

Unlike departments, the Committee on Dramatics does not have the power to appoint its own faculty.

Michael Shinagel, senior lecturer of English and chair of the Committee on Dramatics, says this system has advantages and disadvantages.

"The benefits [are that] instead of getting people who are theorists, these are people who do it professionally," he says. "The liability is that you don't have a tenured, permanent faculty."

The structure of the committee has remained essentially the same since drama courses were first offered for credit in 1980.

"It's too bad Harvard hasn't found some way to make drama more prominent in the curriculum," says Robert Brustein, Professor of English and director of the ART.

The dialogue surrounding drama's place in the Harvard curriculum has been a complex one since 1980. It has weighed faculty and student interests, deep-rooted Harvard traditions and issues of funding and theatrical space.

Almost two decades after the Committee on Dramatics was founded, these issues are still central to the debate surrounding the state of drama at Harvard.

Multi-Faceted Structure

Drama at Harvard falls under the auspices of several different campus organizations, each with their own goals and functions.

The main extracurricular organization is the Harvard Radcliffe Dramatic Club (HRDC), with over 700 members.

HRDC manages most of the student theatrical productions during the year. At the beginning of each semester, the organization coordinates common casting--a system through which students can audition in a single week for most of the plays that will go up throughout the semester.

The professional dramatic institution on campus is the ART. It manages the Loeb Drama Center, oversees the student productions on the Loeb mainstage and in the Experimental theater and employs professional actors and directors for ART productions.

The professionals also teach and advise undergraduate students through courses offered by the standing committee.

But some students say the ART does not provide sufficient opportunities in theater to the undergraduate community.

The Committee on Dramatics funnels the professional resources of the ART into teaching undergraduates about acting, directing, scenic design and other aspects of theater.

"Brustein was brought here to found the ART as a professional resident theater company that would be a resource for Harvard undergraduates," says Jessica Jackson '99, president of HRDC. "But it's turned into mostly a theater company."

"Their role in educating and guiding undergraduates [has changed] from its original purpose," she adds.

Considering Change

Some prominent figures in the Harvard theater scene say that drama on campus needs a significant overhaul.

"There's not enough emphasis on theater at Harvard," Shinagel says. "It's a shame we don't have a drama wing of the the English department, a drama department, or that we don't do what Yale does and have a drama school."

Despite the presence of theatrical luminaries such as Brustein, who teaches courses in the English department on modern and postmodern drama, Shinagel believes that the department could do more to give drama an accessible place in the curriculum.

"The English department does not have enough people who are dedicated to drama," Shinagel says.

Helen E. Shaw '98, who was president of HRDC last year, also expresses dissatisfaction with current drama offerings, even those provided by the Committee on Dramatics.

"It does make me grumpy that the only acting classes we offer are minimal--the real world demands so much more," Shaw says. "We have great acting teachers, but there's nothing about [the classes] that makes the adrenaline pump."

But Shaw notes that current student reaction to drama classes and ART guidance has "gotten a lot gentler, mostly because the relationship is much more comfortable" than it has been in the past.

Yet Jackson, HRDC's current president, says that despite criticism of the current academic status of drama, students have not made a significant push for a drama department.

She attributes this attitude to a desire to keep extracurricular and academic interests separate.

Still, Jackson says, "there is a definite interest from a lot of [HRDC] members for more courses and more of a variety of dramatic courses to be offered."

Brustein notes that many students have actually reacted against the creation of a drama department because they feared that drama majors would have an unfair advantage when auditioning for extracurricular productions.

Rather than allying himself with either side, Brustein says that he "is of two minds" about the state of drama in Harvard's curriculum.

"It's too bad we haven't formalized the committment of 1980," he says, referring to the fact that the committee's founders intended for it to eventually have more of an impact on the Harvard curriculum.

But he worries that the creation of a department would strain the ART's professional resources.

"We're functioning at 200 percent professionally," he says.

Brustein says drama at Harvard ultimately takes two forms: an "obsessive, consuming" extracurricular activity and an academic pursuit.

The creation of a department which combines performance and study "may very well be the first step that has to be taken" to increase the role of drama at Harvard, he says.

Financial Matters

Financial support for drama at Harvard flows from several different sources. But administrators and students alike complain that the streams too often run dry.

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) gives a lump sum of money to the ART each year. In return the ART must manage the Loeb Drama Center and support the student productions that take place in the Loeb.

"There is a paper arrangement [between the FAS and the ART] that was redone five years ago," says Jonathan S. Miller, general manager of the ART. "The ART does provide faculty for classes, support for HRDC, plus things across the campus that don't show up on anyone's balance sheet."

Last year the FAS gave the ART $724,000 of its $6.5 million budget.

The ART receives the rest of its funding from ticket sales, tuition from the Institute for Advanced Theater Training, concessions, tour profits and grants from the government and individuals, says Nancy M. Simons, comptroller for the ART.

HRDC receives $30,000 a year from the ART, which Simons says is most of its funding. In addition, HRDC receives some outside grants.

Jackson says HRDC is thinking about "getting creative" in its fundraising efforts in order to support its growth.

"For me, the funding issue stems around the fact that we have over 700 members, yet we still don't get enough money," Jackson says.

Brustein notes that additional theater space on campus would benefit HRDC, not just the ART.

Yet he says additional space is "a low priority in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which is preoccupied with finding more space for its chemistry department."

Nurturing Talent

Two years ago, in response to what Shaw calls "an unstated aura of threat in the air," HRDC formed a committee of students and ART professionals to review drama at Harvard.

Jackson says the review committee is attempting to find ways for both students and faculty to be satisfied with drama

"I hope that from my classes [my students] willemerge more commited to a fair understanding ofthings," he says, "to learn that the perspective,the values and priorities they grew up with arenot the only tenable ones."

Bobo says he wants to pass on to his students aconviction that scholarship can impact socialissues.

"I hope that I communicate the value ofrigorous social science research to helpilluminate important social processes and issuesthat confront us all," he writes. "[I hope] thatstudents are inspired to think in new and evermore creative ways about the African Americanexperience."

Kilson echoes Bobo's sentiments, saying hebelieves that his students have a moral obligationto help the marginalized sectors of society.

Calling the average income gap in America"morally inconscionable," he says "the top fifthshould take responsibility for the bottom fifth."

Beyond Black History Month

While the importance of African-Americans inthe nation's history is being celebrated thismonth, scholars of Afro-American studies say theywant to promote awareness of black culture andhistory within the community throughout the year.

"There is so much exciting stuff being doneday-to-day in the field," said Adam L. Biggs, ateaching fellow in the Afro-American studiesdepartment. "I celebrate [Black History Month]year-round by virtue of my studies."

Bobo says he hopes to communicate that AfricanAmericans' "struggle against long, hard odds" andtheir successes and achievements "constitutepowerful exemplars of all that it is to be trulyfree and human.