Drama Buffs Plan House Program To Co-ordinate Plays and Lighting

A group of students is planning to form a Committee on Interhouse Drama to pool production resources.

The committee, which is still in its tentative stages, will have no controlling power over House drama. It will not interfere in House decisions, meddle in House funds, or choose plays, Mary Moss, the standing chairman of the Committee, said yesterday.

The CID hopes to improve House facilities and keep each House informed of what the others are doing, but will try to avoid "pseudo-professionalism," Miss Moss added.

Until now cooperation between the Houses has been loose and "informal" she said. No one keeps track of production expenses, and technical facilities, which are inferior to those of the Loeb, are badly organized. Last year, she said, costumes were thrown away, flat disappeared and someone walked off with all the lights of Dunster House.

With the central information file on advertising and personnel which the Committee hopes to institute, producers could swap lights and technicians and use equipment and "new blood" from amateur theatres like the Cambridge Community Theatre.

Sloppy Planning

Better House co-operation would also prevent sloppy planning that now results in several shows opening on the same night and playing to meagre audiences.

Improved publicity under the CID will give plays advanced billing from the central agency, therefore selling more tickets and providing enough money for productions of original plays. In addition Miss Moss hopes that House with small cramped stages might be able to put on their shows in Agassiz or Sanders Theatre.

The committee plans to publish its own Drama Review and Newsletter and hopes to get grants for showing films and paying experts to train actors, designers, and technicians in seminars.

The CID does not plan to go into operation until next Fall, when two candidates from each House will be elected. All the Houses except Quincy House have tentatively agreed.