Word: chapmans
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Chapman feels responsible for making sure that the Loeb runs, as he puts it, on a "two-party system" -- that is, for both participants and spectators. In advising the HDC, he tries to see that a balance is struck between educating the students and edifying audiences. When he directs Etherege's Man of Mode next month, it will be both "because it's not the sort of play students would ordinarily do," and because it will permit some of the six or seven hundred people in Harvard's English Department to see what a Restoration comedy looks like...
...since Harvard has no drama department, the most important thing that Chapman can do is to guide the students as they put a show together. And there is some disagreement around the Loeb as to how successful he is. Certainly his is not the style of the ubiquitous Dan Seltzer, distributing encouragement at rehearsals, helping actors make up on opening night, stopping in the Yard or the halls of the Loeb for a quick chat and to give a pat on the back. Nor is he like the warm, rather paternal Hamlin. Both the associates seem to be around more...
Because of this, people at the Loeb, especially new people, tend to think of Chapman as cold and inaccessible. "From what I'd heard, I'd envisioned him as an ogre, or Michelangelo's God," recalls one Cliffie. "But when I met him, the first thing he did was to kiss my hand. He's dashing, witty, and very charming...
There are really two sides to the Chapman coin. Heads, he looks down his nose at the Loeb; tails, he's a slightly discriminating perfectionist. "People don't ask him to rehearsals because they are afraid he would sneer," says one HDC member. "If he can't do a show exactly right, he can't bear to do it," says another. "He's kind of a snob. He won't do a show that would be compromised from the beginning...
From the biggest director to the littlest props girl, Loebies respect him. His presence at a rehearsal or a performances galvanizes the cast. Whispers of "Chapman's here!" "What's he think of it?" float through the ranks and around the Green Room. They know he knows a lot, and they have faith in his appraisals...