Last Thursday, I attended the black tie opening of Dreamgirls at the Loeb Mainstage. it was a full house; the theater packed to capacity. Everyone who was anyone in the Harvard theater community was there, dressed in their finest.

I sat musing to myself that no other college but Harvard would have the pretension to stage a black tie opening. I mean come on guys, this isn't even summer stock. It's undergraduate theater for goodness sake.

But as I watched Dreamgirls unfold, I found myself completely enthralled. The cast exhibited amazing talent, the costumes and sets were superb. The character Effie had me to the point of tears when she sang.

Who was responsible for such a professional show? Of course, the producer and director deserve much of the praise, but this was not the only impressive show I have seen at Harvard. What person or group of people on campus were responsible for organizing theater at Harvard?

The answer is the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club, better known as the HRDC. The club is governed by an executive board elected every December. Anyone who has ever participated in a show at Harvard, whether it be as cast crew or director are eligible to run for office and vote in the elections.

I spoke with Jennifer G. Uphoff, president of this year's executive board. When asked about the offical duties of the board, Uphoff replied: We have roles." The first includes being executive producers for shows put on at the Loeb Mainstage and Experimental theaters. Theirs job involves selecting, funding and publicizing the shows.

The board also serves as the "umbrella organization for Harvard drama." Uphoff says that all Harvard drama groups from the Gilbert & Sullivan players to Citystep "come under [the board's] jurisdiction."

The executive board represents these diverse groups to the Standing Committee on Dramatic Arts, a faculty planning and advisory organization, and also to the Loeb Theater's administration.

The board's major interaction with undergraduates comes through Common Casting. Each semester during shopping period, directors for every show to go up that term hold auditios. This process allows directors to observe an optimum number of performers as well as gives actors chance to try out for as many roles as they like.

The entire process is sanctioned and organized by the HRDC executive board. Common Casting is governed by an explicit set of rules which dictate the auditioning an casting process.

In the case of any wrongdoing during Common Casting, it is the HRDC's role to adjudicate disputes, a third role unmentioned by Uphoff. It is in this capacity that the board has faced controversy and censure by some in the theater community.

During the fall season, Marc Jones asked the HRDC board to intervene in casting for the show Reproducing GeorgiaJones contends that Common Casting rule was broken when Director Dvora Inwood and Producer Hubert Lin retracted a previous offer for the male lead part.

Inwood says that two of the three male parts had not been accepted after casting lists were posted. As a result, Inwood claims, she and the producer had the right to "pull from the outside"--a phrase that describes the process of auditioning and casting actors who had not originally tried out for the show. Inwood also asserts that the part was offered to Jones by the show's producer, Hubert Lin, without her prior knowledge or consent.

Upon Jones' request, the HRDC executive board looked into the matter. After separately meeting with the director, producer's and actor to hear their version of events, the board decided that the director and producer's actions constituted an infringement of casting policy. Consequently, both Inwood and Lin have been banned by the board from putting on shows next semester at the Loeb's Mainstage or Experimental theaters, the two most coveted and prestigious locations to have an HRDC show.

Inwood, a transfer from Yale, felt that the decision was unwarranted. she defended herself saying that the board's former president felt the decision was too harsh. Reproducing Georgia Inwood's first endeavor on campus and she criticizes the board for handing down such a stringent decision.