"We want someone who will work with the College, who has the feeling that students are interesting," he says.

Rudenstine says Harvard may consider altering the 20-year-old agreement that gives the ART time on the Mainstage in exchange for mentoring students involved with the Harvard Radcliffe Dramatic Club (HRDC).

"That's a decision that was made 20 years ago, and that doesn't mean it can't be remade," Rudenstine says.

The dearth of campus theater space available to undergraduates has been a large problem for the dramatic community in recent years, but some say more time on the Mainstage, as well as increased access to a renovated Hasty Pudding stage in a year, could considerably ease the crunch.

But Shapiro says she would be surprised if the new director of the ART gives more time on the Mainstage to undergraduates.

As is, she says, the relationship between the ART the HRDC is a "two-way street. The professionals are all different--some are particularly interested in working with students, some aren't."

Rudenstine says he hopes to name the new director of the ART by the spring.