Rising to the occasion of its fortieth anniversary, the Harvard Dramatic Club took what it considers a big jump last night in choosing Irwin Shaw's "The Survivors" as its spring play. The experimental, controversial drama will be presented the week of April 20 in Cambridge's Brattle Theater.

In spite of loud acclaim from dramatic critics Walcott Gibbs of the New Yorker and Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times, "The Survivors" dropped out of the white lights after an eight week run on Broadway last month.

The leaded war issues hit by the play, its intellectual approach which limited it to restricted appreciation, and the current bevy of musicals now spanning Broadway throttled the New York production before it could got started, according to Gibbs.

Ghaw Offers Aid

Shaw, the author of "Bury the Dead," "The Assassins," and the movie script of "The Arch of Triumph," has not given up hope for "his baby," as he calls the play. When approached by RDC President Robert E. Miller '48 in New York Sunday, Shaw offered his assistance on the production and expressed the hope that HDC might be able to bring the play back to public attention.

HDC is now ferreting around for a director in New York and Hollywood circles. Casting will be started on a College-wide basis as soon as a director has been secured.