The Harvard Dramatic Club will sponsor a theatre in Cambridge this summer.

The HDC Summer Players, with Timothy S. Mayer '66 and Thomas J. Babe '63 as directors, will stage three plays in Agassiz Theatre.

As presently planned, the plays will include a double bill of Jean Genet's Deathwatch, directed by Mayer, and The Maids, directed by Babe; Gerry Raffles' and Joan Littlewood's musical, Oh What a Lovely War!; and, tentatively, the American premiere of the anti-war drama Saints' Day, by the British playwright John Whiting.

More than 20 members of the HDC will work without salary on the summer theatre. The project will be subsidized in part by box office receipts, in part by private contributions, and in part by HDC contributions, including the receipts expected from a benefit performance at the Loeb during commencement week.

Besides Mayer and Babe, HDC members participating in the project include Peter A. Jaszi '68, a member of the HDC executive committee who will act as producer, Honor, Moore '67, president of the HDC, and Francine L. Stone '68' secretary of the club.

Student groups have attempted to set up shop in Cambridge during pas summers, but the HDC group will be the first to use Agassiz, which Mayer and Babe hope to air-condition for the summer.

Mayer explained the purpose of the theatre: "We feel the need for student theatre and student experimentation in the Cambridge area does not end with the coming of warm weather. And we feel that some of the things Tom and I have been doing this year can be explored in greater depth without the immediate pressures of academia hanging over our heads.