ART AT NOON
GENERAL ADMINISTRATOR, THE HOPKINS CENTER
These words are being written a half-hour or so before I'm due to undertake one of the most interesting assignments I've had at the Hopkins Center—talking about it to the members of the new football coaching staff, trying to convey to them, at Jake Crouthamel's invitation, what it is about the Center that makes it so special.
I'm not sure what I shall say; I'll certainly make reference to the fact that many members of Dartmouth's football team have found satisfaction or pleasure in various activities at the Hop—Jim Chasey selling tickets, for example, Joe Adams singing in the Glee Club, Tim Risley producing remarkable pieces of sculpture, many others. And I'll let them know that The Players' production of The Ghost Sonata, so successful in the American College Theatre Festival last year, might be thought of as a kind of achievement comparable to the winning of the Lambert Trophy (there were, after all, nearly 300 entries in the selection leading up to the Festival). Perhaps I'll toss out casually the fact that one of Dartmouth's Professors of Art had most of a whole page in Time devoted to him not long ago (more newsweekly coverage than the varsity team received even in an unbeaten season).
One thing I know I will do is to quote some words President Hopkins spoke at the opening ceremonies of the Center that bears his name. I love them, and always quote them when introducing the Center to visitors on the Horizons program.
"There is something more than the addition to the campus of a structure of dignity and grandeur. It is something more than a meeting place for undergrad- uates. It is something more than an exhibit of what a college plant can be made. It will in the course of events, I am certain, become the heart and soul of Dartmouth."
One fairly recent development that has helped to ensure that President Hopkins' prophesy will be fulfilled is the use of the middle of the day for scheduling events in the Center. At first glance it may not seem especially significant, but the effect it is having on the arts at Dartmouth is striking.
It all began in the Winter Term of 1969 when Errol Hill, Associate Director of Theatre at the Center, launched 12:30 REP. It was a direct response to a felt need—the need for more opportunities for students to act, to direct, and to "tech." The Dartmouth Players flourish, but there is obviously a limit to the number of opportunities presented by a five-play season of major productions, especially if the most talented actors are to have a chance to work in a variety of roles. On the other hand, there seems to be virtually no limit to the desire on the part of a large segment of the Dartmouth student body to become involved in play production. 12:30 REP helps to meet those demands.
But there's more to it than that. The fact that the Warner Bentley Theater productions are less elaborate in terms of sets and costumes places greater emphasis upon acting and directing skills and therefore offers an undeniable challenge to those participating. And then there's the consideration as to what the series does to extend the knowledge and experience of the theatregoers in the community. There is, after all, no substitute for seeing a play; but when a season was limited to a handful of productions, each of them involving a not insignificant financial risk, it stands to reason that there was not much room for experiment, and there was even less for the possibility of covering the waterfront. With 12:30 REP added to The Players' season, it is now possible for a student to see in the course of a four-year career at the College close to 100 different plays, or lengthy excerpts, covering every era and style, many of them extraordinarily well produced. And with admission to the noon-time shows set at 25 cents, there's no likelihood that anyone will find the cost a problem.
That the idea finds favor with audiences as well as with actors is clear from the attendance figures—sell- outs for Thursdays and Fridays are not uncommon and an average attendance throughout the week of 100-plus per performance is nearly standard. Teachers bring classes of school-children from time to time (there was standing room only recently for a production of two plays written in French by Dartmouth students), but it is clear that the 12:30 REP has built up a regular following of its own, and has endeared itself to a lot of people. Jim O'Connell '71, the student coordinator of the program this year, mentioned the other day that a woman had just given him 50 cents for admission instead of 25; she explained that the extra quarter was because 12:30 REP was "such a good idea."
For a year or so the Bentley Theater was the only scene of noon-hour activity, but in the spring of 1970 a junior member of the Music Department organized a musical equivalent, and the Wednesday Noon Concerts entered our lives. David Rosen, who had joined the faculty the previous September, had seen a similar program at Berkeley, knew it worked out there, and decided to try it here. The results have again been gratifying.
There are, in this case also, two sets of beneficiaries: the principal ones in terms of the experience gained are the musicians; in terms of enjoyment it is the audience. For all it is proving worthwhile. Two particularly important aspects of the success of the concerts are related to what might be called extension work: the extending of the range of repertoire played and heard, and extending the opportunity to perform to members of the community outside the College.
There are, of course, quite close parallels between 12:30 REP and the Noon Concerts: performances of works ranging from medieval times to the current avant-garde; a devoted audience augmented regularly by the newly curious; full houses not infrequently, encouraging numbers all the time; people being given a chance, sometimes a first chance.
Every so often other musical contributions are made to the arts at noontime, an informal lecture-recital by a group who had played as a part of the Concert Series in Spaulding the night before; a series of concerts by Anthony Newman, another new member of the Music Department whose brilliance as organist and harpsichordist is winning him a national following.
When the first Wednesday Noon Concert was announced, there were some expressions of apprehension in the theatre end of the Hop; did this mean that Wednesdays would now become dead days for 12:30 REP? We offered reassurances, suggesting that it was just as likely that each activity would reinforce the other, since both would help to instill in people's minds the idea that lunchtimes were not empty times in the Center. And it turned out that our optimism had been justified: one of those lovely moments that cheer the lives of those of us who work in the arts occurred on that first Wednesday when the Faulkner Recital Hall and the Bentley Theater were both full! There have been several such days since.
Even so, we all wondered whether we were perhaps taking some risk when, last January, we decided to take the next logical step and to add film to the lunchtime schedule. The College is in the process of buying prints of Civilisation, the magnificent set of films produced and narrated by Kenneth Clark, and it seemed to be a good idea to make them available to the "mid-day population" of the College and the town—the many people who spend their lunch hours in Hanover but not their evenings. So they were shown at 12:15 every Monday and Thursday in January and February, with audiences in the area of 200 people, enjoying a way to use lunch hour profitably and (an important consideration for many people) enjoying a cultural excursion that doesn't involve after-dark driving.
No story of the Hopkins Center in the middle of the day would be complete without a reference to the Galleries and to the exhibitions program in the corridors and other open spaces. Nothing could be more natural (as we've seen since the Center opened) than to visit a gallery show on the way to an event, or to pause along the way in order to take in a show displayed on the Center's walls. Hundreds do so.
I began this piece before speaking to the new football coaching staff; I'm finishing it afterwards. We spent an enjoyable hour together. I have to say that I was impressed by what I saw and heard. And I have to add, modestly, on behalf of my colleagues and myself, that they were too.
No inflation: admission is only 25 cents.
Mark Thomas '74, the farmer's wife, and Jay Kiessling'74, the scholar, in Hans Sachs' "The Wandering Scholarfrom Paradise," part of the February 12:30 REP series.
Dennis Kowal, sculptor in residence for the Winter Term,discusses art with a student in the Jaffe-Friede Gallery,where his work was being exhibited.
Mario di Bonaventura, Director of Music at Hopkins Center, and Marion Weaverplaying the violin in the Wednesday noon "Concerts and Commentaries" series.
Students on their ways to see the film "Civilisation."
The LaSalle String Quartet, on campusfor an evening concert, also performedbriefly at noon, discussing each composition before playing it.
David Carroll 72 as Adam and Wendy Tonkavich at Evein the 12:30 REP production of "The Apple Tree,"which was repeated by popular demand.
Lunch-hour visitors to main Hopkins Center gallery.
