Still, Jackson says, "there is a definite interest from a lot of [HRDC] members for more courses and more of a variety of dramatic courses to be offered."

Brustein notes that many students have actually reacted against the creation of a drama department because they feared that drama majors would have an unfair advantage when auditioning for extracurricular productions.

Rather than allying himself with either side, Brustein says that he "is of two minds" about the state of drama in Harvard's curriculum.

"It's too bad we haven't formalized the committment of 1980," he says, referring to the fact that the committee's founders intended for it to eventually have more of an impact on the Harvard curriculum.

But he worries that the creation of a department would strain the ART's professional resources.

"We're functioning at 200 percent professionally," he says.

Brustein says drama at Harvard ultimately takes two forms: an "obsessive, consuming" extracurricular activity and an academic pursuit.

The creation of a department which combines performance and study "may very well be the first step that has to be taken" to increase the role of drama at Harvard, he says.

Financial Matters

Financial support for drama at Harvard flows from several different sources. But administrators and students alike complain that the streams too often run dry.

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) gives a lump sum of money to the ART each year. In return the ART must manage the Loeb Drama Center and support the student productions that take place in the Loeb.

"There is a paper arrangement [between the FAS and the ART] that was redone five years ago," says Jonathan S. Miller, general manager of the ART. "The ART does provide faculty for classes, support for HRDC, plus things across the campus that don't show up on anyone's balance sheet."

Last year the FAS gave the ART $724,000 of its $6.5 million budget.

The ART receives the rest of its funding from ticket sales, tuition from the Institute for Advanced Theater Training, concessions, tour profits and grants from the government and individuals, says Nancy M. Simons, comptroller for the ART.

HRDC receives $30,000 a year from the ART, which Simons says is most of its funding. In addition, HRDC receives some outside grants.