The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-06-10
HER EYES HIS CONFUSION.
Theatricals and Coeducation Proved
Quite Too Much for One Young Man.
New York Evening Sun.

Theatricals and COeducafion Proved
Quite Too Much for One Young Man.
New York Evening Sun.
They may say all they want TO against
coeducation," said the young women ''it
still remains true that it has the balance
OF the arguments on its side. Perhaps there
is more of an inducement TO study, and
perhaps the work is better. But waving all
such points. there is still another reason
why the coeducational college is bound
to win out. In fact, 1 was not thinking of
The work at ALL was thinking of the the
atricals.
Every college that has any self-respect
has dramatics nowadays, and how do they
manage them when those who take part
are all girls for instance? Why, they either
have TO cling TO classical productions,
where the men wrap up in togas, or else
they make you use your imagination for
all 1T is worth in thinking that monde
script combination of waistcoat and coat
with skirt forms an ideal masculine toilet.
Maybe they have more advanced ideas now,
but the last time / saw the theatricals in
woman's college the stage men were all
decked out in that sort Of garb, and they
were not such great artists as to make you
forget IL, either. One Of them, I remem-
Der, wore her skirt, or his skirt, so scant
that he almost tumbled over when he tried
to walk about. He created a pleasing di-
version that way.
Really the best thing about amateur
theatricals is the fact that there is always
element of the unexpected about them.
Your amateur actor is seldom so tame as
to slavishly follow both the letter and the
spirit of his part. Not that he extempor-
ICES; that is usually quite beyond the scope
of his presence of mind But he often
stands In silence over an important speech
or interprets Il in a sudden new light that
never fails to please.
when we came to the question of dra-
MATES this year we had a good time. de-
Gliding what we would play There is one
girl from the West who thinks she has
a mis- 11rl0u hA
stage. She lets the men students call upon
her, and the girls do not like her, but
somehow she was on the committee, and,
of course, she wanted part that would
bring out her ability. The mere fact that
she wanted one play made the other girls
decide they didn't want it: and 1 guess
she'd have been glad II the others had
had their way as II finally came out.
"You see, she was the heroine, with
strong emotional part to play, because she
considered herself heavy on emotion. Well,
when IL came TO deciding upon the hero
who was to act as foil to her the others
all insisted upon young man who is regu-
larly in love with another girl. II was an
unfortunate day for him, it happened.
1.-The rehearsals went along smoothly
enough even If there was a pronounced
lack of enthusiasm. The excitement of the
final night itself, when the audience would
be a stimulus. sure TO put feeling
into the cold-blooded actors But never
theless it was easy TO see that the hero
was uncomfortable about making love to
one woman on the stage Wnen the eyes
of his own charmer were fixed upon him
In the audience. He needn't have minded,
and If he had been just a little less in
love himself he would have known that
ii was the opportunity of a lifetime to
have won her by proxy
"Of course during the rehearsals no one
thought it necessary to insist upon the
details of the love making, so long as each
knew his part. Besides IL might have been
embarrassing.
I'm the meantime the other girl, the one
who would be In the audience. had begun
to grow slightly jealous. She considered
the girl from the West siren, and she
had allowed a shade of coldness TO blight
the springtime of the young mans hopes,
and he was correspondingly wretched
Still the play would go on and he couldn't
get out of il.
Finally the performance came. There
was no lack of enthusiasm, that much was
sure, although the audience was in utter
ignorance of some of the most telling bits
of by play. There was one time, for in
stance, where one man had to be arrested
and dragged away quietly by another
Well, the two who had that part were
roommates, and the one who was doing
the arresting interpreted the part TO suit
himself. all the spur of the moment
while he evened I'D old scores that may
have been gathering for years. He
thumped and punched the poor victim, who
simply had to be passive or spoil the whole
play.
"Then there was the young woman, who
was supposed to he as plain as the heroine
was beautiful. She refused TO be ugly at
| the last and blossomed out dangerous
rival.
1--WE didn't make any mistake I'm taking
| a play that was full of action. At one
| time, large man was supposed to be car
| ried away dead. But the fear of being
| dropped was greater than all his fears
| about his success an actor. and he went
| out clutching his bearers for all he Vas
| worth. That brought down the house.
| But the climax came with a long-drawn-
| out parting, and this is where the diff
| culties from taking things for granted dur
| ing the rehearSals came out. Everything
was very sad and mournful. It was also
/ very quiet except for the soft strains of
music that were calculated to enhance
| the situation. A farewell kiss was in order
| Reso1utely the hero approached the waiting
| emotional actress; bent toward her rather
| gingerly; thought of those eyes in the audi
| ence, and lodged back when still. full a
| foot away from that up-turned face. 1t
was a critical moment. The silence lasted
| for one brief second; then the audience
| burst into one great roar of laughter.
1 THE heroine was not too anliably in
| clined as you might guess. In fact, neither
| of those girls will ever forgive that man:
| one. because he made her seem ridiculous;
| the other. because he made himself seem
so. But the play was a tremendous sue
cess. Those who saw il said they hadn't
| laughed so in years. That was something
| TO have accomplished, although il was not
intended for funny play"