Pudding Prepares For Rowdy Club Night

Although members of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals will don their glitzy drag to perform their show “Snow Place Like Home” for final club members tonight, some cast members said they do so hesitantly—dreading the rowdy drunkenness and heckling expected at the Pudding’s annual Club Night.

For the past week the Theatricals cast has been embroiled in talks about the raucous night, with three members calling for a cast boycott, said a cast member who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

According to this cast member, the annual tradition of performing for tuxedo-clad final club members and their dates has degenerated in past years, with club members arriving at the performance “drunk and blasted” and heckling the actors “viciously.”

“It’s definitely a situation where those who performed before don’t feel comfortable doing it,” said another Theatricals cast member—James M. Carter ’02.

“We fully expect it to be horrible and disgusting,” the first cast member said. “The most common thing we will hear will be ‘faggot’—and the fact Harvard students say that is shocking.”

This cast member said concern about this year’s Club Night was sparked a week ago when the cast saw an e-mail from a final club officer advising club members to come to the Pudding performance drunk so they could fully enjoy the rowdy atmosphere.

In a meeting following Saturday’s performance, the Theatricals cast resolved to go on with the show despite their reservations.

“We have an obligation to what we’ve planned thus far,” Carter said. “If we had our druthers most of us wouldn’t [perform].”

At last year’s Club Night, B.J. Novak ’01, then a member of the Harvard Lampoon, a semi-secret Sorrento Square organization that used to occasionally publish a so-called humor magazine, jumped on stage in full drag in the middle of a musical number and was tackled by then-vice president of the cast, Michael Roiff ’01.

“It has gotten to such a bad extent that a member of last year’s cast decided not to return to the Pudding solely because of his experiences with Club Night, which have left actors in tears,” the first cast member said.

While the Pudding generally staffs one Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) officer at each show, the first cast member said there will be more police officers on hand tonight due to the rowdy nature of Club Night.

HUPD spokesperson Steven G. Catalano confirmed that at least one offcer would be stationed at tonight’s show—but would not comment on the exact number of officers assigned to monitor Club Night.

Michael T.C. Packard ’02, president of the Owl Club, said that members of the Owl do not attend Club Night simply to enjoy the performance.

“The show might be good but no one really knows because 80 percent of the audience is drunk and 80 percent of those are screaming half the time,” Packard said. “More than anything it’s a fun night to go out and dress up. Most people I know didn’t go back for the second act because they’d had enough of the play and thought it was time to go out and enjoy the rest of the night elsewhere.”

But Carter said cast members have promised to support each other on stage tonight no matter what insults are hurled at them.

“We decided to trust the rest of the company and work together to make [the] night the least uncomfortable, the best Club Night we would have,” Carter said.

—Staff writer Anne K. Kofol can be reached at kofol@fas.harvard.edu.