Word: brustein
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...much like college athletes, some say, and deserve no better and no worse. Surely the actor is more a part of the Western intellectual tradition that Harvard embraces than is the athlete. The future of Harvard drama is moot for several years, however, until the curtain rises on Robert Brustein's innovations. Despite the tempest over the undergraduate's loss of control of the Loeb Theater caused by the Brustein appointment, no one denies that there is much ado about the possibility of good, innovative theater and theater classes at Harvard...
...example of the kind of innovation Brustein could bring to undergraduate drama, take his basic "no more masterpieces" approach to the "classical" canon, an approach that discourages dull, "definitive" productions, promoting constant re-interpretation and directorial probing into the heart of each play. He has written at great length, most recently in a splendid defense of Henrik Ibsen in this month's issue of Decade magazine, about applying this theory to contemporary social problems. A director, he has written, must try to infuse the "classics" with comtemporary meaning, to apply the general human problems as the playwright articulates them...
...idea in the work, in fields like government, philosophy, sociology, economics, history or psychology, in addition to studying the literary and artistic tradition from which the work emerged. A small number of courses at Harvard now examine a dramatist or a play in contexts other than the dramatic, but Brustein could devise a comprehensive program, to apply these different outlooks to a production while satisfying a student's credit requirements and doubtless making the study far more meaningful. Brustein's direct work with undergraduates could lead to programs that combine drama with other academic disciplines, finding, for example, parallels...
...KNOW HOW BRUSTEIN and his company can help us: by adding to and upgrading extracurricular programs at the Loeb; by working for increased academic recognition of drama; by inspiring excellence in student productions through higher standards at the Loeb. What is exciting is the realization that we can help him, that Harvard is providing not just a facility, but a whole new field of research. That's why this big guy is fooling around with undergraduates...
...very least the arrival of Brustein and company will provide an exciting change from what is--with a few exceptions--a stagnant and unprovocative theater, and an all-out challenge to a curriculum with serious gaps. At most, it could be the beginning of a new era for the performing arts at Harvard, and a model for the teaching of drama at every school in this country. We risk little--a few productions a year in the Loeb--and stand to gain a whole lot. Let's drop our suspicions and embrace the possibilities...