There's 'No Exit' From Canaday B-12

Andre T. Dryansky '87, a native of Paris, says he arrived at Harvard expecting to find an ancient and noble room waiting for him. Greeted by stark stair wells and cinder-block walls. Dryansky experienced "the Canaday freak-out." But rather than sink into deep depression, he turned his room into the stage for an existentialist drama performed in French.

Jean-Paul Sartre's "Huis Clos" ("No Exit") opened last night in Canaday B-12. Dryansky's suite, and will run at least until Sunday. "Canaday B-12 is well-suited to the play because there's the same chaos in Canaday as there is in Sartre's Hell," Dryansky, who is co-directing the play with fellow Canaday B resident Edward R. Weiner '87, said yesterday.

Hell on Earth

The group received a $100 grant from the Freshmen in the Arts program, Dryansky said, and 18 people showed up to audition for the four parts. Still, "Trying to justify ourselves was a big problem," said Malia Louis '87, who worked on the show. "A lot of students thought it was really weird." Dryansky was not allowed to paint his room black or charge admission.

Because the room is small, the play often merges with the audience. It is a fitting space for a play about three people locked in a living room together for all of eternity. Left to themselves, the three verbally create their own hell.

The practice of staging Harvard plays in bizarre settings has become almost traditional in recent years. Last spring, William P. Rauch '84 paraded his production of "Mystery-Bouffe"--cast, audience and props--from the Kennedy School of Government through Harvard Square, the Yard, and even the line in the Freshman Union. "It was a story about the Russian Revolution told through biblical metaphors--and we added Harvard metaphors as well," Rauch said.

Peripatetic

To bury a dead character, Peter Sellars '80 dug up the floor of a tiny room in the basement of Adams House, where he staged Beckett's "Happy Days." Sellars is also remembered for a production of "Antony and Cleopatra" on a raft in the Adams House Swimming pool.

Most recently, Paul Warner '84 staged "Everything was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt," a Harvard adaptation of a Kurt Vonnegut story, in Science Center B.

The producers of "Huis Clos" intend to follow in this tradition. "We want to try to keep this going," said Joshua S. Kurtzberg '87, who plays the valet. "We've progressed into a really fine acting troupe."

Dryansky said the group wants to do a reading of Romany Gypsy tales accompanied by a pantomime in February--this time in the Union. "Maybe one Easter we'll just set off on a nomadic-type trip, giving plays in other schools and small towns," he said.