Top officials from the Loeb Drama Center and Harvard University Art Museums confirmed this week that they have discussed moving the American Repertory Theater (ART) to a new space. The move would free up the Loeb Mainstage for full-time undergraduate use just as on-campus performance spaces are disappearing.

But Robert J. Orchard, managing director of the Loeb and the ART, said the Mainstage--a space originally endowed for students--is "not a good space for undergraduates--it's much too large."

Members of the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club (HRDC) beg to differ. They, and other performance groups, will face a serious space crunch when Radcliffe stops sponsoring student shows in Agassiz Theater.

They have found the Mainstage more than adequate in the past, they said.

"We currently put up four shows of high quality on the Mainstage, and we could put up a couple of more of equally high quality," said HRDC President Michael P. Davidson '00. "Given the opportunity, undergraduates could rise to the occasion."

Orchard acknowledges having looked at plans for a contemporary art museum on the swath of land just past Peabody Terrace, on the site now occupied by Mahoney's Garden Center. This museum could potentially hold a theater space, he said.

"They've been dreamy conversations" about the museum possibly containing a theater, said James Cuno, director of Harvard University Art Museums and the driving force behind the proposal to build a new museum.

Cuno said the conversations about the theater have "been among friends, people I know at the ART, over drinks and lunch."