The same week, HDC president Peter L. Shoup '55 announced the founding of its New Theatre Workshop, whose main purpose was to present, on a budget of between $10 and $25 each, live productions of plays written by students. For the first time in many years, the student playwright was accorded formal recognition, encouragement, and an outlet through which he could obtain, as Archibald MacLeish has said, the necessary experience of feeling "the blush of shame" that comes when he sees his own work produced. The Workshop has continued right up to the present and has fulfilled its mission admirably; of the 33 student plays produced since the War, 26 were given since the founding of the New Theatre Workshop.
When the HDC founded the Workshop, it also established another ancillary institution called the Children's Theatre. This group presented stage versions of classic children's tales in Radcliffe's Agassiz Theatre. Aimed primarily at young audiences, the Children's Theatre gave, over several years, a series of productions that charmed both the young and old.
The 1954 spring term ended with the HDC's production in Sanders of O'Neill's Marco Millions. This was the largest show ever undertaken at Harvard. It was beautifully acted by a huge cast of 75, and had stunning sets and costumes; but it was not a big popular success--the public was not yet ready for this play, which, although highly unorthodox and exotic, is a masterful work of art.
At any rate, the "renaissance" was well under way. The HDC reached its post-War peak in the spring of 1956 with its Sanders arena production of Miller's Death of a Salesman. This was an absolutely top-notch show of extraordinary depth and polish--fully the equal of any professional production the play has ever had.
The next spring the HDC celebrated the occasion of its 100th major production by impressively staging Hamlet uncut. But, largely owing to an excessive costume budget, the show left the Club about $3000 in debt. Last fall's fine production of Ibsen's The Master Builder made a large profit, however, and the HDC can enjoy the novelty of beginning this academic year in the black.
The new revival of theatre, however, by no means confined itself to the HDC. There was far more energy than the HDC could possibly utilize, and one new group after another added itself to the already existing organizations. By the spring of 1957, every one of the seven Houses, plus the commuters' Dudley Hall, had its own group putting on theatrical productions. The year 1957-58 brought the number of producing organizations to the all-time high of 20. This did not result, however, in the bitter feuding that characterized the first post-War years; the many different groups have operated recently in friendly and healthy competition.
Particularly noteworthy is the Eliot Drama Group, formed in the spring of 1954. From its debut the next fall up to date, the EDG has provided a splendid series of intimate semi-arena productions devoted almost exclusively to the works of Shakespeare.
As the spring of 1957 rolled around, it occurred to someone that the Big Four in the senior class had never all worked together on the same show. To remedy this, John G. Eyre '57 put up the money and secured the rights to stage the American premiere of Jean Genet's terrifying play about prison life, Death-watch. Stephen Aaron directed, and Colgate Salsbury, Harold Scott and D.J. Sullivan took the three major roles. A wonderfully oppressive set was designed by John Ratte '57, one of the three most gifted designers here since the War (the other two being Robert Fletcher '45 and David A. Hays '52). Five newspapers reviewed the production, all very favorably; one critic called it "a crowning achievement for theatre at Harvard." The play then went to the Yale Drama Festival, where it easily led all the other entries.
Last spring Eyre brought Scott back from New York to star in the title role of King Lear, which garnered from its five reviewers such plaudits as "perfect," "brilliant," and "unbeatable."
This fall, Eyre, Aaron, Salsbury and Dean Gitter '56 are currently organizing the Cambridge Repertory Theatre, which will start year-round professional productions early next spring. There is a great need for a good local repertory company, and the prospects for the new CRT seem favorable. I hope the group will be able to equal the artistic successes of the old Brattle company--but with better financial results.
Foreign Language Shows
Most of the post-War theatrical offerings have been in English. But by no means all. The most important efforts have been those of the Harvard-Radcliffe Classical Players, who in the spring of 1949 gave the first play in Latin here since the mid 1930's. Since then the Players have put on six Roman comedies in the original--most of them by Plautus. By far the high point, though, was the group's very moving 1956 production in the Fogg Museum court of Oedipus at Colonus, given in Sophocles' original Greek under the direction of Robert A. Brooks '40.
The only modern language club that has put on shows with any regularity is the French Club, which has staged 13 productions in French since 1946. The Italian Club gave the first play in its history in 1947, and has done four others since. The Slavic Society has presented three