THE INSIDER

Harvard theater has always been a conundrum. Some plays cause a stir, others disappear without the slightest whisper. To many, the theater community might as well be its own little school each semester, these aspriring actors, directors, playwrights and crew members work their asses off to put up 20-25 shows around campus. Crimson Arts been covering student theater for a number of years now (not without its share of controversy, of course), but rarely do we ever get an insider's view on a production. This past semester, we gave you weekly glimpses at the progress of Jesus Christ Superstar, hoping to find out what it takes to bring a production from the page to the stage.

I wanted to go one step further and so, I kept my eyes and ears open for anything particularly interesting that might be happening next semester. Randomly, through a friend of a friend of a friend, I got my hands on a play called In Between O'Clock by Michael Ragozzino 01. I read it in one blast (now if only I could do that with my other reading) It's a wicked little existential story with a fantastic lead role (Mike wrote the play as an independent study with mentor Adrienne Kennedy, award-winning playwright and Harvard professor) and I'm entirely curious as to how something so thoughtful on page will effectively reach an audience. Oooooh. Ohhhhhh. The buzz is hot, I thought. I approached Mike and played it cool and casually asked if he needed any help producing the play... And so the saga continues I'm finally on the inside. Let's see what happens... .

SOMAN'S SHORTS

When I applied to be on The Real World this past summer, I had a single goal in mind. The house, the vacation, the roommates, the new city were all unimportant. I was in it for the clothes. What clothes, you ask? Well, here's my plan (feel free to steal it if you ever get on an MTV show): the moment you're cast, you get on the phone with every major fashion designer in the world. You call Armani, you call Versace, you call DKNY, Polo, Gucci, etc., etc. And you sell yourself, Listen, I'm going to be on The Real World. Broadcast as a personality to hundreds of millions of captive viewers -viewers who tend to have disposable income and impressionable personalities and I want to wear your clothes. I'll be a walking advertisement for you! I'll be a.... You'll look damn good on MTV when you have a different designer outfit on every day. And more importantly, six months laterafter your tortuous sojournyou pack your boxes to send home with six months worth of designer outfits....Jennifer Lopez recently proclaimed that she could sell coffee using my rear-end as a ledge. And she's trying to get respect as an actress?....We sent two writers to cover WWF Smackdown at ringside this past Tuesday. The catch? One was a red-blooded American male, a guy who watches Smackdown each week and knows the wrestlers by name. The other? A girl reporter straight out of boarding school who worried about the possibility of getting soiled by wrestler sweat. We'll have full coverage for you in an upcoming issue....And for those of you not titillated by pop culture phenomena, we'll have you enraptured too: look for a special interview with Jane Campion, director of The Piano and Holy Smoke, in January....Have you ever tried explaining instant replay to somebody who has never heard of it before? My cousin and I tried it the other day when our Indian aunt exclaimed during a football game, What? What's going on? Didn't that just happen? We tried to explain it, but I realized how impossible it is. She ended the conversation once it started getting hostile: No, no. The same thing doesn't happen twice in India.