The agreement has worked well, according to Donald R. Soule, technical director of the Loeb Drama Center and a lecturer in dramatic arts. Soule, who has worked at the Loeb since it opened in 1960, says that before the ART arrived, undergraduate drama was in a slump.

"I do believe when the professional company arrived, the students were having a difficult time producing shows on the Mainstage," says Soule. He says the ART has contributed to the revival of student drama in recent years.

"I think its been a very happy marriage," Soule adds.

Among the four aims of the ART's role at Harvard, Brustein says, are "to be a living library, to bring life to the plays that sit on the shelves of Widener" and to supervise undergraduates and provide instruction regarding the use of the Loeb. One of the main purposes for the ART troupe, he adds, is for it to be a "laboratory" of experimental theater.

And students agree that they benefit in at least some way from the ART's presence. But they question just how willing the theater group has been to help them--and at what cost.

"The administration seems to have a really romanticized view of how the ART helps the students," says Heather S. Cross '90-91. "It does exist for some but not for others."

In fact, top ART and HRDC members continue to praise their working relationship. "We have tried not to be antagonistic and to work with the ART," says Reiffel. "At the moment, we have a good relationship with ART."

And Brustein says despite a lot of tension a few years ago, "It's generally a pleasant atmosphere now."

However, many students say this apparent goodwill belies dissatisfaction, adding that old tensions persist.

"Most of the time its perfectly possible to exist without having any trouble," says Margaret H. Meserve '92, who is currently co-producing Cyrano de Bergerac at the Loeb Mainstage. "But when both groups are feeling pressure to get shows into production, you really realize it."

As an example, Meserve cites a matinee of As You Like It, during which ART members were working in the nearby shop and using power tools and playing loud music that could be heard on stage. After Meserve asked them to stop, they turned off the music but continued using the tools.

Meserve says she also recalls an ART bridal shower held in the costume shop that ran over, disrupting HRDC time in the shop.

"To them we're just like these annoying students. To us they're like big league jerks who think they have special privileges," says Cross.

Students complain that the ART has overrun the Loeb. Second-floor hallways are lined with one ART office after another, while the HRDC office has been reduced to a relatively small room shared with one of the ART's costume managers, Meserve says.

And the Loeb's previous staff of 10 has been almost completely replaced with a comparatively gigantic ART staff.