Callbacks Burglarized During Show

While the Callbacks wowed the crowd in Sanders Theatre at their annual spring jam last Friday night, someone entered the green room in the theatre's basement and stole over $2,000 worth of cash and personal items.

"It was a great night up until then," said Carolyn M. Baker '98, president of the Callbacks. "It really brought us down pretty quickly to get offstage from a great concert to go downstairs and find that we had been robbed."

Members of the co-ed a cappela group had been under the impression that the room was locked, as it had been for all past Sanders concerts, according to the group's members.

But when the group returned to the room after the concert, the door was open and showed no sign of forced entry.

"The details of the actual break-in we're unclear on," Baker said. "It is unclear whether the room was actually secured."

Baker said the group generally has an arrangement with Memorial Hall that the room will be locked when they leave it, but it was unclear on Friday night who would lock the room.

Memorial Hall staff were unavailable for comment yesterday, and Baker said she has not heard from them in the five days since the incident.

Immediately after they discovered the thefts, group members called the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD).

The HUPD log shows seven different counts of larceny for Friday night, and HUPD is currently investigating the thefts.

Although the log said the thefts occurred at Memorial Church, HUPD Lieutenant Peter O'Hare confirmed that the actual location was Memorial Hall.

According to O'Hare, either the Memorial Hall staff or the performers themselves neglected to "secure" the door to the green room.

According to Baker, HUPD is currently investigating other similar thefts, which have occurred in recent weeks.

Among the stolen items were three cameras, several wallets and about $500 in cash from ticket sales for the concert.

Baker said she will not know whether the Callbacks made a profit on the concert until she receives a report on ticket sales from the Sanders Theatre box office. But she added that the group's finances will be healthy nonetheless.

"I'm not as concerned about that as I am about people's personal losses," Baker said. "We're just trying to help people who had things stolen that couldn't really afford to lose anything."

Baker said she also met with Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III to see whether the University has any provisions to help students who have been robbed.