With the Players
DURING MAY the Players directorate put a double check on ThePetrified Forest, it being the last show on the Players' season. Rehearsed and staged in two weeks, it was one of the best productions of a modern show that the Players have done in several years. Heading the cast was a newcomer to the Players' ranks, Alec Clark, playing the part of Allan Squier. Opposite him was Sally Drury as Gabby of the Black Mesa Barbeque. The role of Gramp was entrusted to Rip Streater, and a very good job he did as the only man that had been missed by Billy the Kid. Acting honors by critical and popular vote went to Dick Shaw for his cool and calculating portrayal of Duke Mantee. Page Smith shared the spotlight as Boze, the football star, with a heart full of love. All the artillery in Hanover (except that which Chief Hallisey keeps on his hip) was used in firing off round after round of blanks, in the great shooting scene which climaxes the play.
It was just a hundred years ago that Bulwer-Lytton wrote the greatest of all melodramas, Richelieu, and since then the greatest actors of the nineteenth century have proved their mettle in interpreting the part. In the middle of April the Players revived it, entrusting the role of the great Cardinal to Steve Bradley, and while I would hesitate to speak of his performance in the same breath with that of Edwin Booth, it was one of the finest pieces of acting seen by the Players' audiences. Steve hurled the curse of Rome with all the terror for which the scene is famous. It was not a one-man show, however, as Tom Braden, Pete Cardozo, Blake Johnson, and Betty Chapin all contributed their share in projecting the mood of the play. So popular was the show that a last minute repeat performance was given, and those who witnessed it had the rare opportunity of seeing both Warner Bentley and Henry Williams playing the roles of Blake and Sandy Mills, who had gone to a Vassar prom.
Between now and graduation there remains for us the Experimental Theatre productions of the three best plays written by undergraduates this year. Meddlesome's Spring Song, written by Ralph Hill and Dick Shaw, has already been presented in the Interfraternity Play Contest. The Wise Apple by John Hess is also a satire on college life. The third play, WifeWanted, by Fred Becker, deals with a mountaineer's advertisement for a wife, and the results.
It was only a short time ago that we were looking forward with prophecy, and now we look back with a good deal of satisfaction at the season behind us, and at the same time look forward as the new directorate comes in to another year.
Next year's directorate will be headed by Steve Bradley, president; Dick Shaw, student director; and Stan Beskind, student technical director. The Play Reading Committee will include Martin Howell, Peter Cardozo, Page Smith, and Herb Landsman.
