Theater Raises Funds With Cabaret Shows

Harvard's best singers and musicians will be on display at the Loeb Experimental Theater tonight entertaining alumni, seniors and their parents at a special fund-raising cabaret.

The event, sponsored by the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club (HRDC), will cap off a two-night and four-performance week to raise money for the Harvard-Radcliffe Summer Theater a troupe of Harvard undergraduates performing theater during the summer months.

"Everything is being sung. It's really going to be eclectic," said Patrick Bradford, artistic director of the summer theatre troupe. "We're hoping there'll be something there for everyone to like."

Stephen W. Gutwillig '86 managing director of the summer theater, said he hopes the four shows will raise about $1500 for the summer theater. The summer group is also raising money through solicitations of the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club, alumni and Harvard faculty in the humanities departments.

Each winter, undergraduates are selected by the Committee on Dramatic Arts to run the H.R. Summer Theatre. The committee, in consultation with the HRDC, reviews applications during the winter for the chief director spot, said Jonathan Marks, literary director of the American Reparatory Theater.

"It's basically a new organization each year," Marks said of the summer theater, adding, "although I get the feeling it is getting more permanent."

Three plays are scheduled to run at the Loeb Theater during the summer. Antigone by Sophocles will open on June 27 and close July 13. Jungle of Cities by Bertolt Brecht will run from July 18 until August 3, Marsha Norman's Getting Out will be performed from August 8 until August 24.

Each play will run for 17 performances. With one show each day from Tuesday until Saturday and two shows on Sunday.

"Theater is an elastic venture," said Gutwillig. You can do a play for $5 or $5000 and everything in between. We are counting on these cabarets to fund the initial segment of our season," said Gutwillig, adding that HRDC has now budgeted only $1000 for the summer program.

According to Marks, Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III was "instrumental" in many of the summer theater members' low-cost housing at the Jordan Co-ops.

The cabarets are modeled after the Midnight Cabaret held last March, at which the improvisation group, On Thin Ice, was featured with other actors and singers. That event raised $600 for the H-R Summer Theatre.

The 10 p.m. performance tonight will feature 19 volunteer singers and six musicians. "It should be something special," Marks said.