Evening star., 1919-09-24
COLLEGE THEATERS.
By H. ADDINGTON BRUCE.
(Copyright, l019.)

Some day. I venture to predict. the
time will come when every leading col
lege will have as part Of its equipment
a good sized theater for the mounting
and acting of interesting and thought
stimulating plays. When that day
comes the colleges will be appreciably
nearer realizing their ideal as centers
for the diffusion Of sound knowledge
among the public.
For the theater, though few colleges
as yet seem aware Of the fact. il one Of
the most powerful Of all agencies deter
mining the state Of the public mind. AS
theatrical standards are high or low, 80
will public standards be.
This for the reason that virtually
everybody goes to the theater. Thou
sands who seldom. IL ever, look inside
book go to the theater two or three
times a week.
To be sure. they go to the theater for
entertainment, not for instruction.
They go to be amused. not to learn
things. And the theater will always be
primarily place for entertainment.
Nevertheless. because OF the supreme
Iy receptive nature Of the human mind.
those who go the theater necessarily
take away with them ideas which pro-
fcuncly, however unconsciously. anect
the whole current of their thinking and
II the plays presented are predomi- =
nantly of a cheap. vulgar sort. full OF
loose thinking or with next to no think
ii,g at all, the mental vigor OF the public
will be seriously affected. II the plays-s
whatever their type: tFagt dy. comedy.
farce or melodrama-afe instinct with
thought, the public mind will benefit
cnrrespondinely.
Here is the opportunity Of the coll
leges Here. for that matter. is duty
NJ
dertake.
Some few colleges have already es-
tablished courses In the technique OF
J.Jay writing. One or two have followed
the example of Harvard, where the ar
dent and keen-minded Prof. George r.
Baker has for some years been conduct.
ing a workshop" for instruction in all
phases OF stagecraft.
But even Prof. Baker is stiTl without
an adequate theater for the production
not give them the opportunity he snouid
for developing and presenting tnelr
ideas.
Nor can he make his workshop" pro-
ductions accessible to the student pody
as a whole or to the public. Hence ne Is
sadly cramped in his praiseworthy ef--
forts to educate through the stage.
For OBVIOUSLY. plays affect the public
cnly as they are seen by the pubic. :
And in the college theaters ! nave IN .
ton both for student audiences and for
general audiences.
Let the plays therein presented be
kept really interesting as wen as .
thoughtful; let them be vital, not prosiiy+
academic or tawdrily commonplace. and :
efYects for good would soon be felt
throughout the theatrical world.
No longer would managers labor un-
der the vicious delusion that there is a
no money" in thought provoking Z
plays. They would discover that 1t not
only pays to put on such plays. but
that they will have to do SO II they wish :
to hold their audiences. 81
Nor Will they have far to seek in order
to rc. plays of the better grade de-
r,,,-..d. The college theatrical instruc,
s.. II only they be humanists on the
order of Prof Baker, will be continuaiiy .
sending out playwrights admirably MT.
ted to meet the "commerciaf' play pro-
ducer's new needs.