Brattle Theatrical Venture Pays Off

Artistic and financial success welcomed the four owner-producers of the Cambridge Summer Playhouse to their newly acquired theater this summer. Over 2500 playgoers jammed Brattle Hall every week to witness professional productions by Shaw, Shakespeare, Maugham, O'Casey, and other play-wrights.

"We did all right," reported Robert F. Keahey '45, one of the four members of the Harvard Theatre Workshop who purchased the Brattle st. playhouse last spring.

Everything Went Well

"We playd for 10 weeks, we paid good salaries, we ended up ahead, and we got only one had review all summr."

Keahey, with Jerry Kilty '49, Thayer David, and Albert Marre 21, as his co-owners, has leased the theater this winter. "We kept December and a couple of weeks in the spring open. though," Keahey said, "and the Theatre Workshop will move in for its regular productions."

When the HTW begins rehearsals on Brattle st., it will be the first time in the College's theatrical history that an undergraduate group has been able to utilize full professional stage facilities.

Last year's HTW, as well as the Harvard Dramatic Club, had to adapt its presentations to the curtainless and antiquated precincts of Sanders Theatre.

Guest Stars

In addition to the nearly 20 members of HTW who picked up Actor's Equity membership by turning pro with the Summer Theatre, Broadway stars Julie Haydon, of "Glass Menagerie" fame, Winifred Lenahan, the first woman to perform "Saint Joan" 25 years ago, and Lenore Ulric, as well as Broadway designers, added their talents to the hot weather program.

By next June, when most of last summer's players will have graduated, the four actors plan to set up their theater on a permanent basis. "There's definitely room for that sort of thing in Cambridge," Keahey said