New Britain herald., 1927-02-12
GOOD AUDIENCE IS
 BIG THEATER NEED Yale Round Table COnierees Dis
 CuSS Problems of Drama 0NL0OKERS ARE IMPORTANT
Little Use in Perfectly Written Play If Nobody Wants to See It-Re- ligious Dramas Are Hard to Put Across.

Across.
 New Haven, Conn, Feb. l2 (UP) An intelligent and discriminating audience is the greatest need 0. the theater, Edgar NJ. Wooley. di, rector of undergraduate dramatic production at Yale, told the round. table conference on "college dra. matics" on the second day of the conference on the drama here to. day.
 Must Train Audiences
 What is the use in a perfectly written, perfectly acted and per fecty produced play if nobody wants to see it?" he asked. "A conscious modern university should seek not only to train specially qualified students for a life work in the drama, but it should also endeavor to create and foster an interest in the drama in students who have no idea of making the theater a profession.
 The large majority of under graduate actors, producers and playwrights are. in addition to getting great deal of fun out of their work, preparing themselves to be intelligent and discriminating spectators. l think that no one with any experience of the theater will maintain that there is any greater need in the American theater to- day."
 Yale's Part in Drama
 Wooley then dwelt at length upon the part Yale has played in the university study of the drama in the 27 years during which the Yale Dramatic association has been in existence, describing it's early days of alumni opposition up to the present time when it is one of the strongest organizations of it's kind in the country.
 Raising the standard of what he referred to as the audience mind was stressed as an important part of schools of drama by Professor Sawyer Falk of Hillsdale college Micf igan. before the same confer ence. There also is need for the actors. amateur or professional, to administer to this audience mind, he said.
 Are Social Tools
 College plays are social tools, using idea and experience and symbol to interpret the nature of life" Professor Jeannette Marks, head of the English literature de- partment at Mt. Holyoke college. told the conference. She is author Of ''The Sun Chaser" The Merry Merry Cuckoo" and other plays.
 Religious Plays DiEicIlt
 The difficulties of producing re- .igious plays that will meet the of all denominations were outlined by Miss Esther w. Bates of Boston university before the round table conference on drama in the churches and religious or 
 Plays portraying the Christ figure are exceedingly hard to get pro- duced and almost impossible 10 get published. Miss Bates said. Also plays dealing with religious sub, jects in which the authors speak in the vernacular very often meet ob- stacles. she said.
 In spite of the difficulties, how ever, Miss Bates told the confer ence that the demand for religious dramas exceeds by far tho suppl. Where at one time churches want cd plays only at Christmas ann Easter, they now want them for every holiday and every month in the year, she explained.
 An Academic Subject
 Drama should be required as an academic subject rather than an extra curricular activity in second. ary schools, Miss Sara Barber, head of the department of speech in Richmond Hill High school New York city. told tie conference on school drlmatics."
 She maintained that an appre- citation Of the stage and the beauty Of drama goes far to develop the minds of younger students. She also advocated that more exper- fenced dramatic teachers and coaches be employed in high