Changes May Affect Shows' Quality

Opening the Loeb to House drama productions will involve more people and more shows, but the shows will not be as good, an undergraduate active in Loeb affairs said last night.

Under the new proposal, there will be three types of productions: Harvard Dramatic Club shows in the Loeb. House productions at the Loeb, and the House productions in the Houses. The competition among the three productions for actors, technicians, and audiences will greatly increase, the undergraduate added.

Undergraduates will become involved in the Loeb. Presently there are many more actors, directors, and producers from graduate schools, from other universities, and even the non-academic community, than there are Harvard and Radcliffe undergraduates, the undergraduate said.

Purse Strings

Various student directors also mentioned that since the executive committee of the HDC would control the purse strings, they will hesitate to experiment as much as they now can in the smaller house productions.

Joel A. Schwartz '66, director of Lowell House's Glass Menagerie, commented that the styles of acting and directing are very different in Loeb and House productions. In House productions, the director can experiment with acting ideas. The Loeb is not willing to take the same risks as the Houses, simply because they are a more technically proficient organization, said Schwartz.

Better Facilities

John Munger, the director of the Dunster House production of the Frogs would be very happy to direct at the Loeb because the technical facilities are so much better.

John Ross, directing the forthcoming Adams House production of Father, Son and Holy Ghost said. There is something "cold and impersonal about action in the Loeb, but it does save one a lot of anxiety."

Alan King, director of Adams House's All's Well That Ends Well finds it "absurd" to try to produce 12 shows in one academic year. Munger feels the same way. He would like to see House productions in the Loeb only if "the House staff can be moved in, and do what they like; sure they would make mistakes, but they will learn from them."