FACT AND COMMENT

The study of the drama at Harvard, under the direction of Professor George P. Baker, on which. The Outlook has commented at various times, has broadened into what is practically an important department of university instruction. Interest in this study has deepened and broadened until what was at first a general literary course has now become what may be loosely called a major subject. Undergraduate interest in the subject was manifested very early by a request from students for the privilege of substituting for theses on the course of the drama their own plays, in which the principles of dramatic construction and theory should be practically worked out. Then followed, also at the request of students, a course in the Composition of Plays, and seven years ago a half-course on the Technique of the Drama was established, supplementing various other courses which bore directly on the drama; three courses in the classics, seven in comparative literature, six in German, three in French, one in Spanish, and one in Slavic, all dealing with subjects of dramatic interest. The composition of plays is confined to a small group of those who have shown some promise of dramatic ability. Each student begins with writing an adaptation from some story in a single act, then writes an original play in three or four acts, all these productions being subject to criticism and discussion in the class.