A Players' Report

Student-Written Play Features Balanced Program

THIS somewhat discursive attempt to embalm that part of a whole season of productions by the Dartmouth Players and the Experimental Theatre in cold type has been a long time materializing. The assessing of dramatic organizations .... which are as lively as these are .... must naturally wait for the all-over picture to develop, for no single play in a season is in itself a fair standard by which to judge. With that foreword, and with six plays produced and two more in the offing, let us examine the record of 1946-47.

The fall term was not very far along when both organizations were rehearsing full steam on two radically different types of plays. Hanover being well out of the belt of possible touring companies, the Players were able to obtain the rights to The State of the Union, which was, and still is at this writing, running very successfully on Broadway. The revival of Fall Houseparties provided a fitting time for the presentation. Thomas Braden '40, now teaching in the English Department and a former Players actor, played Grant Matthews and Charles Rowan '45, who has just graduated, seconded him in the role of Conover, the Republican boss. The large supporting cast of varied political types and as varied political hues were all performed by character actors of the student body and the community. After four performances the play was performed at Keene, New Hampshire, for the benefit of the local hospital.

For Carnival the Players dug into the drama files and brought out The Torchbearers by George Kelly. Originally produced in 1922 on Broadway, this satire on the Little Theatre Movement still retains its original bite and sharpness. It should be a must for any amateur dramatic group at some time in its career. It surely has the funniest second act ever written. Mr. Kelly has crowded into the space of a half-hour all the horrible things that can go wrong in an amateur performance. Robert Russell and Pearl Fuller, the curiously neutral Ritter family, are beset by ART in the form of those twin harpies Mrs. Pampinelli and Nelly Fell, played superbly by Patricia Giles and Marion Folger. The settings for this play were designed and almost singlehandedly executed by John Wulp 'go, a freshman. His scene for a living room of the middle lqao's was practically a modern designer's nightmare in chintz drapes, hangings and ruffles. Even more of a shock to the younger generation were the costumes which were the sexless type of straight line dresses from shoulder to the hip, low waisted and flapper short. The whole cast threw themselves back into the twenties with something more than gusto and brought forth one of the most satisfying plays of the season.

The Experimental Theatre, an integral part of the Dartmouth Players, was resurrected last fall after some four years of enforced inactivity. Originally founded to present student-written plays, its function was enlarged around 1936 to present plays which would have sound academic and dramatic worth, yet by reason of their content would have little sales value. The first play presented was Moliere's Tartuffe with a cast headed by Robert Russell '48, William D. Terry '48, Maude Wheelwright and Sally Drury. This seldom-seen play was in general a surprise to the invited audience. The written criticisms by each member of the audience stated, in great part, that they would not ordinarily have gone to see this play but once there they enjoyed it and, in many cases, went to the library to find out more about Moliere. As each member of the audience must write a criticism in lieu of admission, the director of the play, the members of the cast and the men working on the backstage effects get a direct response to their work, and the audience is under no restraint to applaud if it feels like damning.

The second program of the Experimental Theatre was in a way, an extension of the first. Tartuffe showed the invited audience the 17th Century style of dramaturgy and the second bill showed them the 18th, 19th and 20th Century styles. Sheridan's seldom-produced St. Patrick's Day was the 18th Century comedy that began the bill. John Maddison Morton's Sent to theTower, written about 1850, demonstrated Victorian methods, while Russel Graves' U-235 and K-12 was a play so recent that it was not a month old when it was presented in January.

Two more Players productions followed on the heels of Carnival—both in their own way very worthy of note. Dollar Diplomacy by Paul S. Newman '45 is, as far as can be ascertained, the first full-length play by a student ever presented at Dartmouth. It is remarkable in the fact that it has a tight plot and rather neat character development. The locale is the tenth floor of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. Two recently discharged flyers manage to get the room under a ruse that they are Italian trade delegates. Both men speak fluent Italian. The manager of the hotel begins sending in his friends who are importers and momentarily the boys are up against it until one of them spots the surplus property list available to veterans. From then on the play skyrockets into big business and the plot gets funnier by the minute, until the final curtain when the boys achieve their original objective of a room at the Y.M.C.A. The play was originally produced in March and was revived for the Green Key week-end. P. S. Harper Jr. '46, W. H. Hufstader '44, R. S. Russell '4B, W. D. Terry '4B and R. A. Kelly '46 make up the bulk of the cast with performances which were paced as furiously as the script demands.

The last play to be produced was Candida in celebration o£ George Bernard Shaw's ninetieth year. Marion Folger, magnificent in the title role, played a part as far from her performance in The Torchbearers as it is possible to imagine. In this she was capably abetted by W. Franklin Brown '46 and John G. Mcllwraith '49, with Aloyse Duffy, John E. Robinson '49 and William C. Foster '50 in the remaining parts. These actors were surrounded by a setting by Jeremiah Ludington '48 which must stand as one of the most Victorian settings ever conceived.

Two members of this last cast were new to the Players and were discovered in the Players-sponsored Interfraternity Play Contest which was seen by the College in February. This was an activity which was revived with vigor following the war and has always been a breeding ground for new talent. It is one of the most satisfying activities sponsored by the organization.

The end of the season, and at this writing that is not far away, will see the production of the original student-written one-act plays by the Experimental Theatre and a new play for Commencement and the reunion period. The last item has not been announced as yet but.... if you lean over .... rumor has it that it will be a revival of a college drama of 1906 and the locale is an institution 200 miles from Dartmouth which shall be nameless .. . Y E.

STUDENT-WRITTEN PLAY: A scene from "Dollar Diplomacy" by Paul Newman '45, the first full-length student play ever presented by the Players. Its success led to three repeat shows on Green Key weekend.

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR