Break a Leg
We took a cultural jaunt over to the Warner Bentley Theater in the Hop one night late in January. It was dark in the Bentley. The only thing visible was a shadowy figure bending over the lighted control panel in the technical room. A shrill voice was shouting from somewhere in the middle of the gloom.
"Lights, Albert, lights! No, no, no, no. Not there. On the other side of the stage."
"Don't worry, Brian, don't worry. I'll get it. This is the first time I've ever been in this place."
"That's it, Al. That's great! Okay, Lisa and Mike. Let's take it from the kiss."
"Kiss one or kiss two?"
"Kiss one - what the hell. Good. I can't hear you, Mike. Louder! Jim and Peter, get your couch again, please. Hey, guys! You aren't paying attention."
"Well, where do you want the couch, Brian? Make your directions more specific."
"Sorry, Peter, I've never done this before. Put it in front of the window."
"Brian? Brian, is that lamp supposed to get knocked over?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, it's gonna break. And don't ask me to pay for it."
"Okay. Don't knock it over, Mike. Just jostle it a little." Here there was a very heavy sigh. "Where was I? Has anybody seen the script?"
There were 14 of these circuses in the Bentley last term, as 14 student groups slogged their way through 14 one-shot technical-dress rehearsals as part of the 43rd Intramural Play Competition.
The IMPC - which may be unique among American colleges - began 47 vears ago as the Interfraternity Play Competition (IFPC). By the mid-sixties, the IFPC had become so popular that there were 24 entrants out of 25 houses on campus. Then, in the early seventies, fraternities fell on lean years, student interest shifted from culture to politics, and the IFPC shriveled to almost nothing: There came a year when there was only one entry.
In 1975, it was decided to revive the contest by opening it to dormitories and other student residences as well as fraternities. The IFPC thus became the IMPC, and each year since has seen the contest gromore popular.
The IMPC is one of the Dartmouth Players' two all-student events, the other being the Eleanor Frost Play Competition held in the spring. The Players - a student organization which before the advent of the Hop and the Drama Department was the sole producer of plays on campus - keeps its producing hand in with these two contests.
The goal of the IMPC, as this year's producer, Players Secretary-Treasurer Rob Moore '79, explained it, is "primarily one of putting people onstage who don't often get a chance to be there. It's an informal opportunity for them to get onstage, enjoy themselves, and get a taste of what it's like to work on a good stage with good equipment."
The rules are that any "living unit" composed of five or more Dartmouth students may enter a play in the competition. The director may come from outside the unit, but all actors and technical personnel must live in the unit. A member of the Dartmouth Players may advise or direct an entry, but may not act in it or serve on its technical crew. Scripts may be original or published, so long as running time is no more than a strict 45 minutes and set-strike time no more than 15.
The Players provide the structure for the contest, arranging schedules for rehearsal and performances, choosing judges, doing publicity, and managing tickets. They see that the entrants get the proper props and set materials from the Hop and that a master lighting design is set up for all the plays to work with.
"You can call them amateurs," said Moore, "but they have a harder job in some ways than the professionals. The Bentley is so crowded that we can schedule only one rehearsal in it for each production. That technical-dress rehearsal night - only one day before performance in the preliminary contest - is the first time they see the theater. They get two and a half hours to pull everything together - get the action blocked out, lighting cues perfected, sets arranged, props in order, everything."
The judges of the preliminaries select the best three performances to go into the finals and also choose "best overall" award winners - best actress, best direction, best technical, and so on. The three preliminary winners are given one more rehearsal op- portunity in Bentley before they hit the boards in front of a second set of judges, none of whom saw the preliminaries. These judges pick the winning play.
On the night of finals, the Bentley was packed and tense. The first finalist was Kappa Kappa Kappa's smoothly staged My Client Curly by Norman Corwin, a whimsical farce about a dancing caterpillar. Next, North Mass presented Clare Booth Luce's The Women, a demanding satire on marriage. And Beta Theta Pi was last with a magnificently timed piece of absurd theater, Vanltalie's social commentary The Interview. When the final curtain came down and the judges went off to make their decision, the participants doffed their costumes and came out to wait with friends in the audience. They looked pale and tired - and anxious. After a nailchewing eternity, the winner was announced, and amid raucous whoops and whistles, a clutch of Betas in football jerseys and Mickey Mouse shirts was shoved up onstage to receive the Alice Gray Gile Cup as winners of the IMPC— for the second year in a row.
