Knock, Knock, Play's Here

IT happens while you are studying. You get a mysterious knock on the door. "Hi, can we perform a short play in your common room," a strange voice asks. And then your room becomes the scene for what may be the most experimental drama at Harvard.

It's called "tuesdaynightplayroomcommon au theatre." Funded by the Office for the Arts and produced by PS6, a student drama group, the common room productions will become a regular Tuesday night event at the Houses. Each week the group will travel from house to house, banging on doors and urging residents to come to a play in a randomly-chosen common room in their entryway.

"I'm interested in shaking people up," says Randy Weiner, who directed this week's play. He says the common room is "such a dead space." By using the common room in an untraditional way, Weiner says he hopes to make people think about a space they now "take for granted."

Although only Winthrop House residents saw this week's performance of Antonin Artaud's Jet of Blood, the group plans to go to every house to perform a variety of short plays. Next week will feature Mish Mash Bash, and eventually, says Weiner, the group will build up a repertory of plays, switching scripts from room to room.

"It's a fun way to spend 10 minutes," says Weiner of the plays. Although he would like the audience to appreciate the play being performed, his main aim is getting people to see their common rooms differently.

HE says he also hopes to create a community spirit by bringing together entry-way residents who might not know each other. And some may even decide to get involved in performing the plays.

The common room plays are not professional productions, and no acting or directing experience is required of the performers. Several of the participants in Jet of Blood had never acted before, and Weiner says all that is needed is "just a human quality, the desire to perform." He says several people have already asked to take part in future plays after seeing the group's work.

If some students liked tuesdaynightplayroomcommon au theatre enough to join in the act, others were less than appreciative. Many detractors commented on the sexual nature of the this week's performance, which had actors rolling on the floor and sighing orgiastically.

"Don't tell me this is some sort of skin show," one student said actor Mark Prascak peeled off layer after layer of shirts. "I feel violated," said another.

The group's real challenge may not be in garnering audience appreciation as much as finding a welcome stage.

When one Winthrop resident thanked the owner of the common room for inviting her, the host replied, "I'm not even sure I was invited."

One student threatened to call the police if the troupe showed up at his door.

And the group may have identity problems, as some students confuse their arrival with Dial-a-Pizza.

But PS6's commitment to experimental drama extends beyond door-to-door service. Office for the Arts Director Myra Mayman says she gave the group approximately $1000 because "they had very inventive ideas" and "an unusual slant." She says the grants give people "a chance to experiment."

So later this semester PS6 will put on "Dance of the Sea Monkeys," a project that will turn the Carpenter Center into a performance piece. Weiner says students will perform the Myth of Sisyphus on the Carpenter Center's ramps as the Outing Club scales the building's facade.

But in the mean time, if you get that knock on the door Tuesday, you'll know who it is.