Harvard Theatre: 1956-1957

The academic year now drawing to a close has been the most active theatrically in at least fifteen years and very likely in all Harvard's history. A statistical tally shows that the students have made the amazing total of forty-five works available to the theatre-going Public (this figure does not include the Christmas-season plays staged by each House exclusively for its own members).

Of the thirty-two straight Plays presented, sixteen were major productions, fourteen were Theatre Work-shop productions (exactly half of which were given over to original student scripts), and two were concert readings under the aegis of the Workshop. The plays drew from many categories: ancient Greek, medieval morality, Shakespearean and other Elizabethan drama, eighteenth-century comedy, nineteenth-century Russian and modern European and American drama. The other thirteen items were musical, comprising eighteenth-and nineteenth-century comedy and modern American comedy and tragedy.

The forty-five works were presented by fourteen different groups, several of which were new this year. Six of the seven Houses had active theatre groups (only Kirkland, which gave two operas last year, remained silent this year). The only sizable lacuna in the season was the drama that the Harvard Classical Players traditionally have given each spring in Latin or Greek.

Having seen well over forty of the works presented, the undersigned can personally attest to the extraordinary vigor and vitality of the present season. The prime value of this activity is the enjoyment and the "learning through doing" that the participants derive; the quality of the result and the size of the audience are properly secondary considerations. Still, this has not been a year of quantity alone. Happily, some of the productions have equaled the high level of excellence that characterized the efforts of the Veterans Theatre Workshop here in the late 1940's.

Consequently, it seemed appropriate that the CRIMSON give formal recognition to the outstanding theatrical achievements of the season. Herewith follow the recipients of the 1957 6-C Awards (CRIMSON'S Cambridge Critics Circle Commendation Citation), determined on the basis of discussion and voting by this writer and his five critical colleagues (in categories that have more than one Award, listing is alphabetical by last name):

Plays

Production: Genet's "Deathwatch" (John Eyre Presents).

Male Lead: Robert Jordan, as Louis Dubedat in Shaw's "Doctor's Dilemma" (HDC); Colgate Salsbury, as Green Eyes in "Deathwatch": Harold Scott, as Maurice in "Deathwatch."

Female Lead: Edith Iselin, as Young Wife in Schnitzler's "Reigen" (HDC); Lisa Rosenfarb, as Jocasta in Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex" (Eliot); Lisa Rosenfarb, as Gertrude in Shakespeare's "Hamlet" (HDC).

Male Support: John Fenn, as Horatio in "Hamlet"; D.J. Sullivan, as Aaron in Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus" (Eliot).

Female Support: Nancy Curtis, as the Housekeeper in "Doctor's Dilemma"; Abigail Sugarman, as Tamora in "Titus."

Direction: Stephen Aaron, for "Deathwatch."

Set Design: John Ratte, for "Deathwatch."

Costume Design: Anne Hollander, for "Hamlet."

Lighting: Peter Salisbury, for "Titus."

Musicals

Production: Menotti's "The Medium" (Dunster).

Male Lead: Frederick Brozer, as Figaro in Rossini's "Barber of Seville" (Harvard Opera Guild); Ronald Gerbrands, as Basilio in "Barber of Seville"; Harold Scott, as Jupiter in Offenbach's "Orpheus in Hades" (Lowell).

Female Lead: Barbara Blaunchard, as Monica in "The Medium"; Jo Linch, as Madame Flora in "The Medium"; Sarah Jane Smith, as Eurydice in "Orpheus."

Male Support: Thomas Beveridge, as Second Chaplain in Mandelbaum's "The Four Chaplains" (Opera Guild); Malcolm Ticknor, as Aristeus-Pluto in "Orpheus."

Female Support: Alison Keith, as Lady Jane in Gilbert and Sullivan's "Patience" (G & S Society); Peggy Lapsley, as Mrs. Gobineau in "The Medium."

Musical Direction: Bernard Kreger, for "The Medium."

Set Design: Eugene Lew, for "The Medium."

Costume Design: Michyl Paul, for "On the Rocks" (Hasty Pudding).

Lighting: Alan Alberts, for "The Medium."

Workshops

Production: Williams' "The Purification."

Male Performance: Eugene Gervasi, as Corydon in Millay's "Aria Da Capo"; Harold Scott, as The Son in "The Purification"; James Stinson, as Herby in Lawrence's "Six Strings Cut."

Female Performance: Louise Bell, as Gloria in Alonso's "Death of Don Juan"; Phyllis Ferguson, as the sister-in-law in Kaufman's "Babylon Revisited"; Lee Jeffries, as Sally in "Six Strings Cut."

Direction: Glenn Goldburg, for "The Purification."

Original Student Script: Wallis Lawrence, for "Six Strings Cut."

Special

For generally high level of achievement in directing seven major Productions over the past three years: Stephen Aaron.

For his Performance of the dancing mute Toby in "The Medium": Eugene Gervasi.

The Critics Circle is highly Pleased at the increased interest in theatrical activity at Harvard, and hopes that it will continue unabated in the future. The theatre may be, as Brooks Atkinson said recently, "the cruelest of the Professions"; but at the student level its worthwhileness as an extracurricular activity is unsurpassed, both in its many inherent benefits to those taking part and in its cultural and educational stimulus to those beholding it. Has not many a sage told us that all the World's a stage?