Experimental Acting Troupe To Appear at Loeb Theater

A new experimental acting troupe will write and perform original material in the Loeb Experimental Theater later this fall.

The Isthmus Theater, a collaboration of six actors, a musician, painter, writer, director, and production staff, will create plots, improvise their staging in rehearsal and home them down to a polished performance repertoire.

They plan two performance this semester and at least one performance per month next semester.

"The difference between Isthmus and traditional theater is that [instead of using a playwright's script] we are creating our own characters, our own scripts, our own plots out of the improvisations," said founder H. Christopher von Baeyer'85.

The improvisations, which occur only in rehearsal, are based on texts, ideas, and feelings that concern the group.

Comedy

The only other Harvard improvisation group, the one-year-old On Thin Ice, works exclusively in comedy. "They use set games and improvise on stage," said Cassie R. Springer '87, producer of Isthmus Theater.

"The difference," explains von-Baeyer, "is that we will explore more than just comic themes, and we will do very little improvising on stage."

We would like to explore the idea of a theater of social commentary," said Claudia M. Kolker '86, assistant director.

"Individual isolation within urban complexity, sexual identity, and moral responsibility to local and international affairs" are themes in the groups work, said von Baeyer.

"Trust is the basis of Isthmus theater, trusts in yourself and trust in the group," said Eric D. Ronis '86, an actor in Isthmus.

Last December Ronis worked with von Baeyer on 'Earth," a non-verbal evolution story which marked von Baeyer's directing debut at Harvard in "Earth," or Bacyer used the same method of turning improvisation into performance, he said

"I formed this company because I'm interested in exploring my own feelings and the feelings of the people I'm working with. I think the group has a lot of potential as playwrights, we have the potential to create exciting theater," said von Baeyer.

Exploration of the theatrical mode of expression unifies the project, "What is the relationship between the observer and the performer? What does it mean to portray a character, to create a mood, or tell a story? These are questions we are addressing," said von Baeyer.