Directing a cast of serious, capable actors, Coe can allow herself plenty of zany liberties with their creative abilities. "The props include an adding machine and roller skates," she says, "and Moliere's poetic interludes that divide the three acts are set to Golden Oldies. Moliere is one of the most traditional of the French comic dramatists, but by escaping the mannerisms of the day and by capitalizing on his comic strength, impeccable dramatic construction, his remarkable sense of character, we have given ourselves the freedom to enjoy Moliere to its fullest."

She waves eloquent in praise of the Festival: "We have marched in Washington, we have trampled the moon, we have seen the Olympics. The Festival will allow us to make a conscious return to the arts. And I think, as is true in any return following a long absence from home, one forgets how many good things there were in the refrigerator."

Playing the Festival theme of cooperation between the arts to the hilt. "Invalid" will share its set with another mainstage extravaganza, Mozart and DaPonte's "Don Giovanni," performed by the Leverett House Opera Society. Jon Miller designed the set that will be used for both shows. His main concept of the design is that "both works spring from the Renaissance, even though they date from a good deal later, and I wanted to give that feeling. The Moliere has to be something light, with lots of doors and tricks, 'Giovanni' should be something quite different."

Mozart and DaPonte's masterpiece of theatre is considered to be, more than any opera, a fusing of the two forms of drama and opera. The story is based on the legend of Don Juan and the Stone Guest; the production itself, producer Howard Hawkins points out, is bursting with talent. Director David Bartholemew is chairman of the Opera-Theatre Department at the Boston Conservatory; musical director John Miner will be conducting fellow at Tanglewood this summer. To say nothing of the cast. "The production is the result of a strange situation in Boston," Hawkins muses. "There are no decent English-speaking opera companies in the area and only two professional companies, despite the fact that Boston has a concentration of the best music schools in the country. I think that this production exists on a higher level than one would expect at Harvard." Judging from the acclaim Leverett Opera has received in the past, the level, by whatever standards, will be excellent.

Twentieth century drama and small experimental productions have not been neglected, and both the Loeb Ex and various Houses will provide a wide scope of choices for theatre-goers. Describing the Ex's first weekend as "an amusing 'Waiting for Godot'," director Arthur Lasky '72 goes on to clarify his production of "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead." Written by Tom Stoppard, it is a version of "Hamlet" seen from the perspective of two characters on the periphery of the action, "which gives the whole thing a sense of existential displacement." The following weekend, Arthur Fainsod '73 will be directing Ionesco's "Victims of Duty" in which the master of the ridiculous gets his kicks in depth psychology. It's "very much in the tradition of the absurd," the director says.

Disproving the false barrier between academia and the arts, Winthrop House will be doing Brecht's "The Measures Taken," a production that originated in Martin Andrucki's Humanities 96v seminar on politics and theatre. Heading in an opposite direction from Brecht's political consciousness. Eliot House will be presenting Jean-Louis Barrault's "Rabelais," a modern adaptation of Rabelais's "Gargantua" and termed by one of the production staff "a dramatic obscenity, or to be more subtle about it, a dramatic game in two parts." Dunster House, too, may well create a stir with its production of the success de scandale "Saved" by Edward Bond.

Not to be outdone by theatre, the Harvard-Radcliffe music community has a spectacular number of performances scheduled. The Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, conducted by James Yannatos, will be on the Loeb mainstage opening night. Rumor had it that the Orchestra would be doing "Peter and the Wolf" narrated by President Bok, but that tidbit seems to have died a quiet death. Their program fittingly enough includes Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring." The Bach Society Orchestra has promised its full cooperation in a concert in Lowell House Dining Room, ending its season with Bach's "Second Brandenburg Concerto."

Back at the Loeb, the musical menu also lists performances by the Collegium Musicum, the Harvard University Band, and Professor Leon Kirchner's Performance Seminar. The seminar performances are being organized by Currier House music tutor Jay Gottlieb. He sees the Festival as "focusing the spotlight on the arts here." More informally, Mike Luskin is scheduling Chamber Group Concerts by Harvard students in the Loeb West Lobby. These concerts will be held in the afternoons and will provide a lovely accompaniment to a stroll through the Festival's Student Art Show. The exhibit is a collection of everything from photography to painting, puppets to macrame, sculpture to models for stage sets--and entries are still welcome.

The Loeb West Lobby, containing the sedate strains of chamber music in the afternoons, will great the audiences leaving the mainstage performances at night with the more raucous entertainment of the Currier House Cabaret. The Cabaret's first season up at Radcliffe has met with tremendous popularity, and for late-night entertainment it can't be best. Most items on the agenda are definite, and cabaretier Al Franken '72 promises "the best of the Cabaret." But more important, some slots are still open, and people who would like to audition should get in touch with Al. In his words, "the function of the Cabaret is to get Harvard talent that isn't yet structured for things we have here already. We'll take anything."

The Festival is not only expanding beyond all geographical expectations; it is also drawing back talent from the past. The Harvard Gilbert and Sullivan Players will be putting on "Yeomen of the Guard" under the direction of Jim Burt and with conductor Gerald Moshell, both old Harvard and Gilbert and Sullivan grads. And the Byzantium Russian Liturgical Choir, says Weezy, "were all here as students together, and now they're all doctors or something and still singing together."

At the other end of the Harvard family tree, freshman Lindsay Davis is getting ready to launch his production of "The Fantasticks." Down by the river, another form of cabaret will be housed in Mather House Dining Hall, where Guy Rochman '72 has been rehearsing his "Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris." Rochman is a perfectionist who treated his cast to a vacation of 12-hour rehearsal days. The quality of the production reflects this devotion, and the whole Mather set-up looks and sounds like a lot of fun, with huge baskets of fruit and flowers and all the wine you can drink.

There's also going to be lots of dancing at both Festivals--large open-air square dances, folk-dancing demonstrations and rock concerts, as well as in more formal presentations indoors. The good news about the Harvard-Radcliffe Afro-American Dance Theatre, choreographed by Bill Mackey, has already spread. The group has met with an incredible amount of success over the past year, due in large part to Mackey's guidance. Not the least of his achievements was the choreography for Genet's "The Blacks" at the Loeb in 1970. For his evening on May 14 he plans to do ten different works, in a style he calls "dance-drama." He loves working with his dancers in a class situation and has a great support with them, but "if an artist works at his craft I think it's feasible for him to express this in front of an audience." Festival audiences will no doubt appreciate Mackey's particular brand of participation in the dance program. Rika Burnham's Dance Group, another company that has evolved out of a Radcliffe dance class, promises to be equally first-rate.

Not all outdoor and community events will be as far-fetched as the proposed Grand Balloon Event, yet Kristen Wainwright and her fellow Harvard Square coordinators plan to make as full and original use of the environment as possible. To Jib Lampl, the Festival's "environmental" coordinator, the entire Harvard Square and Harvard Yard terrain can serve as a playground for his creativity. Jib is a junior who has taken a semester off "because I was thoroughly disillusioned with the state of arts at the University and with the role the College plays in relation to the community. The University should do much more to provide better environmental conditions for the surrounding area, especially through the media of arts and design." Hoping, among other things, to put up sculpture in the Yard and organize street and garbage-can paint-ins. Lampl needs all the help and contributions he can get. Working with both children's art classes from Project, Inc., and a group of women who will be quilting one of the Harvard Square street banners, he also welcomes student projects in any form. Get in touch.

The Square area will be utilized to its full capacity, largely through the ready cooperation of so many of the stores and banks throughout the area. Like many other stores, the Coop will have special window displays celebrating the celebration, but Howard Davis has also offered to close off Palmer Street for Festival activities. Along with Forbes Plaza and the courtyard of the Architects' Collaborative, this will be the area devoted to outdoor demonstrations of batikking, macrame and pottery, and the space allotted to events like puppet shows, concerts and the escapades of recycle workshops. The entire Festival will be linked for a day by video monitors which are part of the University's recently rediscovered cable television system. Stepping back in time, a group of jugglers will serve to lead Festival-goers from one event to another.

Art exhibits sponsored by the Cambridge Art Association will provide a feast for the eyes, an Advocate poetry reading by Kenneth Koch spice for the ears--and various restaurants will cater to real appetites with special menus and rates designed for the Festival. One of the Square's major commerical events will be a large auction, the profits of which will go to the Festival fund. The idea for this auction reflects the sense of community already growing so rapidly among merchants, students and community, but every shop seems to be coming up with its own little brainstorm for the Festival.

And so the Harvard Square wonderland continues to blossom under Kristen's resourceful direction. At Festival "headquarters" at the Loeb, activity has reached a feverish pitch on stage, in the shop and in the HDC office. Jon, Weezy and Colin seem to be everywhere at once, followed by an enthusiastic production staff wherever they go. Yet the working group is not yet large enough--the Harvard Festival of the Arts and the Harvard Square Arts Festival want to provide a spring celebration for every interested Harvard student, for every fun loving or energetic member of the Harvard and Cambridge communities. As a spring festival the events that make up the celebration will attempt to convey a sense of creation and creativity as befits this season of the year.. Whether artist or performer, technician or observer, auditor or participant, no one will remain unaware of this new development on the cultural and environmental scene in Cambridge.

Hopefully, the Festival will draw everyone into a whirl of actions and activities. Giant easels listing the Festival schedule will be installed throughout the Harvard Houses and thousands of long green program strips will itemize the events. For those with a more active interest, the number to call is 495-2152. The Festival needs your help--but what is more, you probably need the Festival