Pudding Donates $12,000 To School

Dressed as a giant bumblebee and a green sequined alien, two cast members from the Hasty Pudding Theatricals presented Cambridge Public Schools with a $12,000 check last night as part of the group’s initiative to enhance arts programs in area schools.

The presentation, which took place at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School in front of over 200 parents and students, preceded a performance of the school’s musical arts groups, including its Gospel Choir and Jazz Band.

Started last year, the Hasty Pudding Theatricals Fund for Cultural Enrichment aims to stimulate the arts program in the school district at a time when budget cuts have threatened the existence of such programs, said Theatricals co-producer Romina Garber ’06, who is also a Crimson editor.

“What we do every year is have the cast members stand in the back of the theater after shows and collect money wearing wigs, not unlike what happens all the time on Broadway,” said Garber.

This year’s donation came from charitable contributions made during the company’s run of HPT 156: As the Word Turns.

School officials say they are thankful for the invaluable experiences the donations have made possible for the district’s almost 7,000 students.

“I continue to be amazed and awed by the generosity of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals,” said Judith Contrucci, K-12 coordinator for visual and performing arts for Cambridge public schools. “There was the intimation that they would continue the program, but I didn’t expect them to not only garner what they did last year, but to surpass it.” Last year’s contribution—the first ever of its kind by a local college student group to Boston area schools—totaled $11,000.

The money raised by the Fund has already gone towards countless expenses that the drama and visual arts departments of the area’s 15 schools have incurred. The money made possible several cultural experiences—188 students toured the Ancient Egypt exhibit to the Museum of Fine Arts, over 400 students attended a local performance of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

Neal Klinman, a teacher at Morse elementary, was able to take his fourth grade class to a performance of Ramona Quimby at Wheelock Family Theater.

“We utilized some of the funding to take the class there to enjoy the dramatic experience, but also to kick off a Beverly Cleary author study.” Cleary is the author of several children’s books including a series in which Ramona Quimby is the main character.

The students of the theater company realize the impact of their efforts.

“It was a great way to give something back to the Cambridge community we’ve been performing in for so long,” said Theatricals co-producer Charles E. Worthington ’06. “None of us would be where we are if we didn’t have a strong arts program where we came from, and it seems often those experiences are the first things to get cut.”

The Fund for Cultural Enrichment is not the theater company’s first foray into charity. According to Worthington, the group raised an additional $4,000 last year for other causes including the AIDS Action Committee. This year, the Theatricals will use its annual charity night—a performance from which all the proceeds go to charity—to benefit the Broadway Care Group.

The efforts of the HPT spread well beyond local students, said the district’s Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator.

“A lot of donors want to contribute to tangible things, and those things are all necessary and critical and important,” said Contrucci. “But there hasn’t been a donor in the past who has allowed us to send students out to see cultural events, and that has had a tremendous impact and will forever, I’m sure, capture the admiration and gratitude of teachers.”