Hasty Pudding Theatricals Elects Officers

The Hasty Pudding Theatricals elected its executive board for the upcoming year Sunday night.

Sarah A. Knight '00 will serve as Theatricals president, the first woman in the organization's 151-year history to hold the post.

Robert E. Schlesinger '00 will be vice president of the cast. Raymond "Lano" D. Williams '00 was chosen as vice president of the technical crew, and Christopher M. Hans '01 will serve as vice president of the band.

Daniel A. Bress '01 and Bruce M. Haggerty '00 were appointed producers of the show.

Picked by the previous year's producers, Bress and Haggerty were chosen during the Theatricals' spring break trip to Bermuda and assumed their posts after the opening of the first show on the island.

The officers elected Sunday completed the company's executive slate.

Candidates for the posts made speeches to the Theatricals, and then fielded questions regarding their ideas for the Pudding.

Besides electing the first female president, another break from tradition is reflected in Bress and Hans' appointments. Both will be juniors on an executive board usually dominated by seniors.

"It doesn't happen very often," Hans said.

While women contribute to every other aspect of the company's shows-they are involved in the technical staff, band, writing and production--women cannot perform on stage during Pudding productions.

Next February's Woman of the Year celebration will mark the Pudding's 50th anniversary of honoring actresses who have made a "lasting and impressive contribution to the world of entertainment."

Knight said the Pudding will continue to discuss the possibility of allowing woman on the performing stage, which she said will be an internal debate.

"I want the new people involved with HPT to have their own opinions without being influenced by last year's [discussion,]" she said.

Knight says she and Schlesinger are currently focusing on the script for next year's show-the company's 152nd.

"The executive board as a whole will be meeting and deciding what direction [the Pudding] will take," she said.