"Another thing is, a lot of people, certainly myself, are drawn to drama because it allows you to fool yourself into believing that you are achieving something, because the rewards for drama in the college environment are so much more attractive and immediate than for a person studying say, government. He may work much harder, but he won't see the rewards till he gets out into the real world and achieves something because there are so many others who look just like him."

Benjamin agrees, saying "Yes, there has been talk about drama people [at college] being self-important, but what people don't realize is that if you walk out of here and try to audition in New York, then you are going to get a sense of realism real quick!"

Both Benjamin and O'Keefe feel that the best thing about Harvard theater--something that distinguishes it from theater at most other places--is the creativity that exists here. Benjamin likens it to taking "intellectual risks." "People are not afraid to take a stance on something," she says.

Benjamin also believes that the fact that no drama major exists at Harvard causes directors to draw on knowledge from their varied fields of concentration to interpret a play. O'Keefe concurs: "[The absence of a drama major] prevents people from getting too much of a 'drama attitude'. The good thing about this place is that a lot of people are not just into straight acting. There are a lot of people who want to be writers, directors...."

A.R.T.IFACTS

WHILE THERE might not be a drama major at Harvard, one does have the opportunity of studying the theatrical arts under a special concentration, and Harvard certainly does have wonderful facilities for drama. The Loeb Drama Center on Brattle Street belongs to the College and Harvard has invited the A.R.T. to use the facilities and pass on some of their professional expertise to the students.

Students sometimes complain that they feel like they're being tolerated on their own land. I asked Benjamin how she felt about this: "No, I think they're really very good about it, although they occasionally give off the impression (laughs). But face it, they're a professional company and they have the space and the resources and they are going to use them. And they've been helpful...like, they have all these workshops, and David Wheeler will always come to watch any play by invitation.

"But it's really very hard to coordinate time between undergraduate theater and the A.R.T. in the same space. I mean, [the A.R.T. people] are professionals who dedicate their time to it and you have students who are 'Well, I can only be there between four and five because I have section,' and that makes it very difficult. But H.R.D.C. and the A.R.T. are trying to coordinate better all the time."

Larry's brother Mark is a philosophy concentrator. Yet another overachiever, he writes for the Harvard Lampoon, sings with the Kroks and is a member of the boxing club, in addition to acting in several plays, including two this semester.

Mark feels much the same as Benjamin about Harvard's relationship with professional companies. "I think the A.R.T is a great thing for Harvard. I know someone who is doing a 'play writing major,' which he probably couldn't do as well were it not for the various playwrights who are drawn to the A.R.T. and whom he can work with as faculty. Also, when we have such excellent graduate schools like for business, to have at least a top-notch professional outlet of drama, if not a graduate school of dramaturgy, is very important."

CLIQUEY CONCERNS

SOME HARVARD STUDENTS WHO WOULD LIKE TO break into theater note that the existence of a clique at H.R.D.C. makes this task difficult. This concern is especially prevalent among first-years who are trying to land that elusive lead role. Interestingly, neither Benjamin nor Mark and Larry O'Keefe seem to agree. "Well, it is notoriously cliquish," says Benjamin, "but I think it's because people have been in a lot of shows together at odder hours than anyone else. It's not like a group of people who all know each other and all live together in the same house. I think you just need a chance to get in. I think it's more just that by the time you're a senior, you know all the directors and the producers and they know what you can do. They're much more likely to give you a second chance than to some freshman who has yet to prove himself.

"But there are so many parts now, everyone has a chance. I don't think that [casting] is segregated or elitist. I think it's more like a professional association and people respect the fact that you've worked." Says Larry O'Keefe, "I don't think so either. The clique is very, very big. There's always a part for everyone." Mark O'Keefe calls it a "club, a neutral organization" which serves an important role. "Also," he adds, "there is such rapid turnover that it is hard to characterize it as a clique."

DRAWING OF THE THREE

WITH PROBABLY MORE STUDENT THEATER between them than most Harvard undergraduates, and Larry O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin considering careers in drama or related fields (Mark O'Keefe plans to go to Russia to do entrepreneurial work), one is apt to wonder what aspect of drama draws them together.

"Comedy, definitely," says Benjamin. "It is very important to me." The answer is validated in what each remembers as his or her most memorable moment in theater at Harvard.

Mark O'Keefe's most memorable laugh: "...when [the cast from last year's Pudding show] all rode around Hamilton (in Bermuda) on our mopeds in our costumes, in hideous drag, and also when we smashed our full bosoms, which are made of water balloons after the show, (it's a tradition) outside the town hall in Hamilton."

Both Larry O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin remember their most notable moments as events which occurred at Harvard itself. "God!" says Benjamin, "you just keep thinking of all these mistakes you made. I remember when I was doing this play...a very serious melodramatic play, a very serious love scene. And my contact just flew out of my eye. I had to pretend that I was crying and all the time I was trying to wipe the contact away. I couldn't see a thing! And then we had this big kiss where we came running across the room into each other's arms--and I missed him!"

Larry O'Keefe's shining moment happened in the prologue of a Loeb Mainstage production. "I was once an Earl who induced erotic hallucination by putting his head inside a tutu and drawing the noose around him. And one night there was no stool. So, my manservant realized this, and he first got a stool that was too short, and then one that was too long, and finally he came back with a big black chair that was marked with an "X" and all the time we were cutting and pasting our dialogue!"

Romancing the Throne opens at the Hasty Pudding February 21, 1993.