New 'Musical Lab' at Agassiz Hopes to Rejuvenate Art' Form

A professional musical theater company has takes up residence in the Agassiz Theater's ballroom for an unconventional "musical lab" program, in the hope of revitalizing the American musical as an art form

At a press conference yesterday, American Repertory Theater (ART) director Robert Brustein and Radcliffe President Horner formally welcomed the group, which will put on three experimental productions a year under the joint sponsorship of the ART and the Radcliffe office of the arts.

In addition to putting on productions--all of which will be performed in rehearsal clothes without scenery or props--the group allows up to five undergraduates a year to act as paid "apprentices" and shadow a writer, director, or producer.

Apprentices may not offer input on the production at hand, but are expected to write a joint paper after each show to serve as "textbook references on the creative process," producer Stuart Ostrow said yesterday.

Ostrow, who has co-produced such Broadway hits as "The Music Man" and "The Most Happy Fella," said he first thought of moving the lab to Cambridge from the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. when he visited the Loeb Drama Center two years ago as a member of its Board of Overseers.

Brustein, an old acquaintance, gradually convinced him to bring his troupe to Harvard under an arrangement similar to the ART's, Ostrow said, adding. "I see it as a place to make babies, to see how far we can take the material rather than how much we can make from it."

Intermission Snack

"We don't need any more musical spectacles where an alley cut gets to heaven or a house plant eats half the cast," he said, referring to current Broadway shows "We need to wonder at our creation."

The lab's first show, "American Passion," explores "the way the media victimizes the loneliness of urban kids," Ostrow said Written by two company members, it will use its $91,000 budget entirely an actors' salaries, all but eliminating production costs.

At the press conference, where the cost of 13 entertained about 30 visitors with members from "American Passion," Harnes and Bruntelo praised Ostrow's efforts to "concentrate on the work and not any of the persiflage."

Horner cited the Agassiz Theater's "long career of supporting and nurturing artists, "including the young Eugene O'Neill. She added that the unique setup might serve as a model for other universities if it succeeds.