Children's Theatre Group Adopt Non-Profit Standing

Impending expulsion from Phillips Brooks House, its last possible location for local rehearsals, convinced the University Children's Theatre yesterday to become a non-profit organization.

Emily B. Lacey '49, Radcliffe Dean of Residence, immediately granted the group rent-free use of Agassiz again, on condition that it remain non-profit for its current production.

This is the latest step in a chain of events which earlier saw Radcliffe eject the Children's Theatre from Agassiz because the director and two co-producers of its recent "Alice in Wonderland" netted $312 apiece from the show. This profit making jeopardized the tax-free status of the College.

The three students will keep their profits, nevertheless.

Radcliffe originally granted the Children's Theatre use of Agassiz under the assumption "It was a Harvard Dramatic Club group and that all profits would go back into the Club's treasury for future productions," Dean Lacey said.

Brooks House officials would probably have evicted the theatre group when they found that the tax position of their building under the social service classification was in danger.

In addition, Children's Theatre was having difficulty finding a stage in Cambridge on which to produce its current show. "Since we're already in production for a show that opens next week, it's hard to start looking around, let alone work out the legal technicalities of becoming a profit-making organization," said Lucy B. Barry '55, the group's director.

Any funds it earns on its current run, however, will go to the H.D.C., the Bindery, which the H.D.C. was given to renovate and perform in, or future productions, Miss Butte emphasized.

"We will probably give our profits from 'Cinderella' to the H.D.C. for fixing up the Bindery," she said. "The money will cover some pressing needs there, and we feel giving it to them will be a bigger help for University theatre than contributing it to the Theatre Fund," she added.