HDC Picks 'Winterset' Lead From Workshop

"Winterset," the HDC spring offering which opens at the Brattle Hall theatre tonight, depends for the first time since pre-war days on an all student cast and crew. "Only now do we have sufficient talent to exclude outside professional aid," said production manager Peter V. Poor '48 last night, although, he added, there were discouraging gaps in February.

He cited the difficult role of Miriamne, the female lead, as an example. A few weeks before the play was scheduled to go into rehearsal, it was still without a heroine. Even Theodore P. Allegretti '49 who plays Mio, the male lead, and before the war a Shakespearian thespian, was on the lookout for a suitable co-star.

In the studios of the Crimson Network he made the "discover;" he asked an erstwhile bit player on the radio workshop, Miss Kay Casale, Radcliffe '47, to read for the open part. Despite her virtual lack of any stage experience, she was quickly given the role.

Her co-worker on the workshop and also a relative newcomer to the footlights, John Simon '46 plays the rich character role of the old Jewish father, Esdras, Ed Franklin '47, Andy McCulloch '45, and Robert Lubchansky '47, all HDC veterans, are the supporting cast.