The Recovering Muse

Weak sister of the arts at Harvard for many years, local theatre last week began a cure which its doctors hope will bring it back to health. Still very much in the experimental stage, the Acting Laboratory is hardly a wonder drug, but it can be a tremendous stimulant to dramatic activity in the College.

Theatre at Harvard has been ailing ever since George Pierce Baker moved his famous 47 Workshop to Yale in 1926. There have been temporary recoveries when unusually interested and talented students formed energetic dramatic groups, but with the graduation of these students, a relapse invariably set in. Recent years have seen flashes of brilliance, such as certain productions by the Veterans' Workshop and the Theatre Group, but these were balanced by long periods of stagnation.

The new lab may well settle the basic problem of continuity. First, under the capable direction of Robert Chapman and Mrs. Mary Howe, the lab could furnish a constant reservoir of trained actors and actresses from which undergraduate productions could draw. More important, however, is its great promise as a successor to the 47 Workshop, in providing a focus and inspiration to the now chaotic dramatic scene.