Word: played
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Professor Herschel Baker has told his class in modern drama that he can never again speak on "Saint Joan" without recalling the Workshop's production of the play. It has had a memorable effect on all who saw it. Presented in Sanders, a theater which offers some of the most unreasonable handicaps ever placed on a college group (no proscenium, no sconery allowed, no backstage, no dressing rooms, no curtains, etc.), the VTW production made inspirational use of its handicaps. Aside from the excellent cast now working "ensemble," the real coup do theatre was made by the designer, John Holabird...
...Joan" paid the old debt and the Workshop's four productions since, all Shakesperean, have either met expenses or made a profit. Under its new and more accurate name, the Harvard Theater Workshop presented in 1947-8 "Henry IV, Part One" and "Richard II." "Henry IV" was the first play in which the group used recorded music to great effect. This was unquestionably the most popular production of the HTW, and one which brought it praise and attention, not only from the critics, but from leading figures of the academic and the theatrical worlds as well...
...presentation of "Richard II" was the most expensive undertaken by either dramatic group up to that time. It was believed that a Richard in rented costumes would not convey fully that king's opulent rule and degradation. So costumes costing $1600 were designed for the play by Robert Fletcher. "Richard II" was another impressive success...
...next two weeks, the HTW will offer Cambridge an opportunity to see its last and most enjoyable production, "The Tempest"--a production which manages to reap the full harvest of marvels contained in that play. They Workshop has never yet failed to repay, with interest, the exacting price Shakespeare demands of his actors. This is the last HTW show primarily because the leading members of the organization are graduating. But the HTW will continue to be a part of the local scene for some time to come. After a profitable season last summer operating Brattle Hall as a professional repertory...
...safe to say that the future plays will be interesting selections (not all Shakespeare, of course) and that Brattle Hall will play a still larger, if unofficial, part in the undergraduate life here. It may even be that, as time goes on, the present student body will grow to realize how much richer college was made for it by these upstart war veterans...