ROVING REPORTER: "Manuscript"

When two Yalies and a Harvard student get together over winter break, things can only end badly. “Manuscript,” a story of young, backstabbing, Ivy League-educated writers is being performed at the Loeb Experimental Theatre starting Nov. 29th. The Roving Reporter sat down with the director and cast to show them how great writing really gets done.



J. Jack Cutmore-Scott ’10

RR: Who do you play in “Manuscript”?

JC: I play Chris.

RR: Is he the Harvard or Yale guy?

JC: He’s a Yalie.

RR: How does it feel to be portraying someone so obviously inferior to yourself?

JC: Well, I find it challenging. I unfortunately didn’t go to Harvard-Yale to do character research, which would have been helpful, but I’ve basically been observing my most stupid friends to try to get into character.

RR: So tell me a little but more about the play.

JC: Well, it’s a lot about backstabbing.

RR: The Yale guys backstab the Harvard guy?

JC: Well, I don’t want to give anything away. There are lots of twists and turns and the characters reveal a lot about themselves.

RR: Isn’t there something going on about plagiarism?

JC: It’s less about plagiarism and more about actual theft.

RR: Nice. Do you have any experience with stealing stuff?

JC: Me? No, not personally, but I’m thinking about it as a possible career choice because acting definitely isn’t going to work out.



Mia P. Walker ’10

RR: So what is your role in this production?

MW: I’m directing it.

RR: What made you want to direct this play?

MW: Well, it’s new and it’s about a Harvard student. It was off-Broadway and it got slammed. A friend brought it to me and was like, “You have to read this play.” I read it and I was like, “How did this get slammed? It’s unbelievable!” And so I took it on as a challenge.

RR: Did you change anything up to try to make it more acceptable?

MW: No, nothing. I didn’t change one word. I learned that everything in the play is important. It’s like a poem, every word is important.

RR: You didn’t want to make the Yale students uglier or less articulate or anything like that?

MW: No, because it speaks for itself. I didn’t want to have stereotypes and clichés because that’s just lame. I could have advertised this as a Yale-Harvard thing but I didn’t, because I want it to be about the play and not about the rivalry.

RR: Yeah, I guess we beat them enough in the past few weeks.

MW: Well, I didn’t go to Harvard-Yale. I was here.

RR: Who wrote the play?

MW: It was written by a Brown graduate named Paul Grellong.

RR: Then why isn’t it about Brown?

MW: Because Harvard and Brown I don’t think have as substantial a rivalry as Harvard and Yale. I don’t think the writer had any beef with Harvard.



Dan E. Catomeris ’11

RR: Hey, you’ve done Roving Reporter before.

DC: Yeah, the “Urinetown” one was great. I couldn’t believe that I could say “fuck” in the newspaper.

RR: So who do you play in “Manuscript”?

DC: I play David Lewis, who is an 18-year-old, neurotic, Jewish, Harvard freshman with big hair, so the role is a bit of a stretch for me.

RR: He’s a freshman? Then why does the play take place in New York?

DC: The play takes place over winter break. He’s from Brooklyn.

RR: This isn’t the only play you’ve been in this semester. How does your other work prepare you for this?

DC: Well they’re extremely different roles. I was playing a 65-year-old maniacal dictator in a musical [“Urinetown”]. “Manuscript” is a straight play, so the acting needs to be a lot more sincere.

RR: So it’s like two Yalies versus one Harvardian. Sounds like an analogy for something.

DC: Well yeah, I mean obviously they would have needed two football teams to beat us this year because just one didn’t do the job too well.

RR: Is there any physical violence in the play?

DC: Oh, I’m not telling. There may be a kung-fu scene or two, but I think I’ll leave that for the audience to find out for themselves.



Sophie C. Kargman ’08



RR: Who do you play in “Manuscript”?

SK: Elizabeth Hawkins. She’s 18 and she’s a Yalie. She’s a writer. She had an article published in The New York Times Magazine and became really famous. And that led to getting signed by an agent and the publishing of her novel.

RR: How famous are we talking here? Like “Mom puts it up on the fridge” famous or Harvard Crimson Roving Reporter famous?

SK: No, it led to a big book deal. Like, you know, Kaavya [Viswanathan ’08].

RR: Is there a scandal in the play like that one?

SK: Um, no. You’ll have to see for yourself.

RR: How does it feel to play a Yalie? Do you find yourself failing at things? Keep trying to get to the top but never being able to reach it?

SK: The character does everything to the best of her ability but some things are a little off.

RR: So are you going to hang out with any Yalies over winter break?

SK: I might. My best friend is a Yalie.

RR: Is he inferior in every way?