Dramatic Club Elects New Executive Board

After a two-hour election process last night, the Harvard Radcliffe Dramatic Club (HRDC) chose a new executive board headed by president Jessica F. Shapiro '01 and vice-president Michael S. Roiff '01.

Eric Fleisig-Greene '01 was elected as campus liaison, Libby Shani '02 as treasurer, Jamie E. Smith '02 as publicity coordinator, Sara B. Heller '02 as technical liaison and Cary P. McClelland '02 as club coordinator.

Before the election, candidates fielded questions from about 70 club members concerning a variety of issues, including the club's relations with the American Repertory Theatre (ART) and the diversity and inclusiveness of the Harvard theater community.

The club's relationship with ART, a professional theater company that shares performance space with HRDC, has been everywhere from "strained to non-existent" in past years, Roiff said during the meeting.

Both Roiff and Shapiro emphasized that building a working relationship with ART will be among their priorities in the coming year.

Shapiro wrote in her position paper that the proximity of the two groups in the Loeb Drama Center is "a potentially terrific setup." At the meeting, she emphasized that she plans to establish a solid partnership between ART and HRDC.

"We're in a unique position right now of really hammering down a system that works well for both of us," Shapiro said.

Several candidates, including Shapiro and Fleisig-Greene, spoke about opening up the theater community to people who might not otherwise participate.

"There is nobody who shouldn't or can't do theater," Shapiro said, adding that the theater community should be "very welcoming" to newcomers.

Fleisig-Greene, the new campus liaison who will be responsible for orchestrating Common Casting, the biannual casting process, said he hopes to make students more aware of opportunities in Harvard theater.

"Getting new faces and talents to invigorate and rejuvenate the theater community is an important job," Fleisig-Greene wrote in his position paper.

Besides simply recruiting new people, HRDC is also recognizing the need for diversity in the Harvard theater community.

"[The lack of] racial diversity should be directly dealt with," Shapiro said.

She said that more discussions with minority groups on campus are needed to try to understand why minorities are under-represented in theater and how to change the perception among students that HRDC doesn't reach out to all students.

"This is a wonderful community that has meant a lot to me," Shapiro said. "One of my goals is to let it mean that much to as many people as possible."

Roiff, who ran for vice president after losing in the presidential election, said he was optimistic about the coming year.

"I'm really excited to be working with Jessica," he said. "The future is really bright."