Visiting Directors Program

OFFICE FOR THE ARTS VISITING ARTIST DAVID R. GAMMONS DIRECTED ARTHUR KOPIT PLAY Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feelin’ So Sad opened Harvard University's New College Theater, November 1-10, 2007

Playwright and Harvard alumnus Arthur Kopit attended the opening performance on November 1

(Cambridge, MA)—The Office for the Arts at Harvard (OFA) is pleased to announce that the inaugural production of Harvard University’s new performance venue, the New College Theatre was: Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feelin’ So Sad by Arthur Kopit (Harvard class of 1959). Directed by David R. Gammons ’92 and featuring an undergraduate cast, the play ran November 1-10 at the New College Theatre (formerly the Hasty Pudding Theatre), 10-12 Holyoke St., Harvard University, Cambridge.

Playwright Kopit was a special guest at the opening of Oh Dad… on November 1 at 8 pm, which included a ribbon cutting ceremony and welcoming remarks by Drew Gilpin Faust, President of Harvard University. On Friday, November 2 at 2:30 pm at the New College Theatre, Kopit also participated in a public conversation with Oh Dad… director David R. Gammons '92, moderated by Robert Scanlan, Professor of the Practice of Theater at Harvard. Presented by the OFA’s Learning From Performers program, this event was free and open to the public.

A combination of outrageous comic parody and dark Grand Guignol, Oh Dad… is a classic of American absurdism that tells the story of the fabulous Madame Rosepettle and her neurotic son Jonathan as they travel to a Caribbean island with their wild entourage: two Venus Flytraps; a cat-eating piranha; a priceless stamp, coin, and book collection; and Madame Rosepettle’s taxidermied dead husband in a coffin. Kopit wrote the play soon after graduating from Harvard, where it had its first performance in Agassiz Theatre; in 1963, Oh Dad… opened on Broadway (directed by Jerome Robbins) and enjoyed subsequent productions in the U.S. and abroad.

John Lahr, theater critic for The New Yorker, has described Arthur Kopit as “an entrepreneur of the extraordinary.” In addition to Oh Dad…, Kopit is the author of Indians (1969) and Wings (1978), both Tony Award nominees and finalists for the Pulitzer Prize; a new translation of Ibsen’s Ghosts (1982); the book for the musical Nine (Tony Award for Best Musical, 1982; Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, 2003); End of the World with Symposium to Follow (1984); the book for the musical Phantom (1992); the book for the musical High Society (1998); Road to Nirvana (1991); BecauseHeCan (2000; originally entitled Y2K); Chad Curtiss, Lost Again (2001), and numerous one-act plays. His current projects include Discovery of America, a play based on the journals of the Spanish conquistador, Cabeza de Vaca; a film version of BecauseHeCan; and an original musical, Tom Swift and the Secrets of the Universe, for which Kopit is writing the book and David Yazbek, the music and lyrics. Kopit has taught playwriting at the Rita and Burton Goldberg Graduate Department of Dramatic Writing at NYU, the Yale Drama School, Yale College, Columbia University, Harvard University and Princeton University. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Dramatists Guild Council, and The Lark Play Development Center, where he heads The Lark Playwrights’ Workshop.

Oh Dad… director David R. Gammons '92 is also a designer, visual artist, and theater educator. In addition to graduating from Harvard College with a degree in Visual and Environmental Studies, he is a graduate of the Directing Program of the American Repertory Theatre’s (A.R.T.’s) Institute for Advanced Theatre Training. He has directed productions for the Harvard-Radcliffe Summer Theatre and the A.R.T., and is the founder and artistic coordinator of No More Masterpieces, a performance collective dedicated to generating original dance-theatre work. Currently Gammons is Director of the Theatre Program at Concord Academy, where he teaches courses in acting, directing, playwriting, and design, and directs a company devoted to developing original experimental work for the stage. He was the recipient of a 2007 Elliot Norton Award for his direction of Titus Andronicus for the Actor’s Shakespeare Project.

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to return to Harvard to work with young actors,” said Gammons, “and also to have the honor of opening this brand new state-of-the-art facility. Oh Dad... is ideal for the setting here, since it is a product of a young author who was experimenting with language and form.”

Gammons was joined on the professional production team for Oh Dad… by scenic designer J. Michael Griggs, lighting designer Sarah Sidman ‘93, costume designer Heidi Hermiller, and stage manager Larry Finlayson. The cast included Harvard students Allan Bradley ‘11, Jonathan Carpenter ‘07, Adam Goldenberg ‘08, Sophie Kargman ‘08, Alexandra Palma ‘08, Jonah Priour ‘09 and Sam Stuntz ‘10.

The Office for the Arts at Harvard, established in 1973, supports student engagement in the arts and serves the University in its commitment to the arts. Through its programs and services, the OFA fosters student art-making, connects students to accomplished artists, integrates the arts into university life, and partners with local, national, and international constituencies. By supporting the development of students as artists and cultural stewards, the OFA works to enrich society and shape communities in which the arts are a vital part of life. For more information, call 617.495.8676, email the OFA or visit the Office for the Arts website at www.fas.harvard.edu/ofa.