On the corner of Brattle and Hillard Sts. sits a closely-watched building. Once the home for most undergraduate theater productions, the two-story structure now goes by a new name.

It used be called the Loeb Drama Center, but for the past 10 years, there's been a different name associated with it--the name of a professional theater group.

When you telephone the building, they answer as the "American Repertory Theater [ART]. "Stationery issued by the company--which used to carry the letterhead "The ART at the Loeb"--has dropped its tag. And the banner hanging outside makes no mention of the Loeb Drama Center.

It did not use to be this way--a fact that many current undergraduates, who have limited access to the theater and its facilities, lament. But since the American Theater arrived on the scene, the role of student drama has been greatly affected--in what students say are both good and bad ways.

Now, as undergraduates in various areas of the arts clamor for more attention and performance space, actors, directors and crew members are reassessing the influence of the American Repertory Theater (ART).

Established 10 years ago when President Derek C. Bok lured Professor of English Robert S. Brustein and members of the Yale Repertory Theater to Harvard, the ART is praised as one of the most innovative dramatic companies in the country. But its relationship to the undergraduate community has traditionally been marred by resentment on both sides.

Professionals at the ART are sometimes rumored to be annoyed by the undergraduate presence, calling them "kids." And students have often claimed that the group has taken over their theater.

With the creation of the Institute for Advanced Theater Training--the ART's graduate program--undergraduates say that not only have space problems been exacerbated, but College students are also no longer cast in ART productions.

The University is about to embark on $2 billion fund drive, but administrators say a new arts facility is not a priority. So members of the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club (HRDC) and the ART say they will have to continue working to improve relations.

"The only real solution would be to build another theater," says HRDC president Mary Elizabeth Rieffel '91. "And that's not going to happen."

But, says Lowell Professor of the Humanities and chair of the Standing Committee on Dramatics William Alfred, there have been plans to add a third floor to the Loeb, which might include another performance space. Such an addition would not take much time to build once the ART has raised the necessary funding, he adds.

In the mean time, officials of HRDC and the ART are doing their best to amicably share resources and expertise.

"We each see other to certain extent as extra baggage," says Jeffrey S. Miller '90. "It's a love-hate relationship. We have to co-exist. We are here to help each other."

Says Sarah L. Stevenson '91, a producer, "They're actually really helpful. You have to ask--but when you do ask they're very helpful."

Under the agreement negotiated between Bok and ART artistic director Brustein, the HRDC gets to use the large Mainstage Theater for two productions each semester and retains control over the smaller Experimental ("Ex") Theater. The ART is also charged with aiding student productions on the Mainstage on a request basis.