Premiere Society Show Closes Because of Personal Conflicts

The Harvard Premiere Society's two-year success, "Do It Yourself," will not be produced this year because the director left the production and two writers subsequently withdrew their material, members of the production said yesterday.

Several members of "Do It Yourself," a collection of skits and songs written and performed by Harvard students, contacted yesterday said that director Paul S. Redford '80 had been fired Monday, while others claimed he had quit.

Two writers, Andrew S. Borowitz '79 and Steven Crist '78, withdrew their material from the show "in honor of Paul Redford and in protest of the treatment he received," Borowitz said yesterday.

Andrew S. Birsh '78, one of the producers and member of the Society's board of directors, said the director left the show by "mutual agreement of Redford and the producers."

Borowitz and Crist, however, believed that Redford had been fired. "The director left not by mutual agreement but was fired by the producer," said Crist yesterday. "Paul had asked for several conditions under which he would direct, but the producers did not agree to them," Crist added.

Monday night the cast elected Jacqueline Osherow '78 as the new director, Tim G. Atkeson '79, another producer, said yesterday. After Borowitz and Crist withdrew their works on Tuesday, producers and cast met and decided to cancel the show, Atkeson added.

According to Atkeson, the show was having problems from the beginning. "Rehearsals started late and we were considering opening a week late," he said.

Birsh attributed the cancellation of the show to "strong personal differences, conflicts of personal views. Things had been going smooth all year until this sudden flare-up," he said.

Borowitz claimed yesterday that the cancellation of the show was "a case of gross mismanagement." He added. "The board mistakenly thought they could alienate people that were vital to the production. They didn't want a director that was anything more than a puppet to the Society."

The founder of the Society, Peter L. Borowitz '74, said yesterday the Society was formed to allow students "to test their creative skills free of pretentious supervision. I am distressed that after only four short years in operation, the Society has fallen into the hands of 'technocrats' who seem much better at throwing formal parties than producing original shows."