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Governing the Harvard Drama Community, HRDC Organizes Casting, Adjudicates Disputes

Inwood also declared that there was no appeals process available to her. The bottom line: a small group of undergraduates, the HRDC board, controls her entire theater career at Harvard. Since Inwood wanted to continue to participate in Harvard theater, she did not protest the decision, In her words, "I was new, and I didn't want to make waves."

Jones, on the other hand, believes the decision was fair, even though he had no intention of bringing up charges when the problem began. "No one felt they had to do anything," Jones says. He alleges that there has not been an incident like this one in a while and went to the board at the urging of friends also active in Harvard drama.

In his mind, these mix-ups "shouldn't happen in HRDC." And unlike Inwood, Jones does not feel that either his career or his reputation has been adversely affected by the incident.

This spring, another HRDC-related controversy reared its ugly head in the Harvard theater community. the Adams House play Mirandolina was canceled, plagued by allegations of sexual harassment from the female lead and counter-allegations from the cast about her incompatibility.

The dispute centers around the show's female lead, "Scarlett J. Marquette, and her claims of sexual harassment against Phil Munger. Marquette contends that after rebuffing Munger's sexual advances, he and fellow actor Junlian von Loesch engaged in a campaign of psychological abuse in an effort to force Marquette out of the show.

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Marquette states that Munger made these advances at his apartment after inviting her there to watch a movie. Marquette accepted the invitation became they had "become friendly" during the course of rehearsals. Marquette maintains that she did not see the invitation as a date.

Marquette declares that after this incident Munger and von Loesch began to cut her off when she spoke her lines and also urged her to leave the show. Marquette cites an incident where Munger yelled out in front of the cast, "She's going to get laid" in reference to Marquette's imminent visit to her boyfriend.

Munger was unavailable for comment.

Julian von Loesch denies Marquette's claims of psychological abuse and also alleges that Munger did not sexually harass the actress. Von Loesch denies any knowledge of Marquette's alleged visit to Munger's apartment.

Von Loesch suggests that the source of the cast's incompatibility rested in Marquette's inability to "realize what it meant to be involved in theater here, and the time commitment involved...she set limitations on the hours of rehearsal."

Marquette went to the HRDC board with her complaints, and states that the board was "helpful inasmuch as they could help me." Marquette also says that "HRDC does not have rules for rules for such a situation. It's assumed that something like this will never happen. That's wishful thinking. I don't know if a group of students are capable of dealing with a problems of such magnitude."

In light of these two troubling controversies, the HRDC may want to develop a comprehensive strategy for confronting casting issues within the theater community. Rare though they may be, these disputes should be dealt with in a responsible manner.

Marquette may be right. Expecting the HRDC, an undergraduate-run organization, to arbitrate complex issues like sexual harassment is probably unrealistic. And to give that responsibility to an undergraduate group may be allowing them excessive power in areas where they carry no expertise.

The HRDC executive board should have the wisdom to pass along such sensitive deliberations to a college board capable of providing a mature forum for the issues.

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