The Dramat
To name the best experience I had at Yale is simple: my time in The University Theatre. I worked on numerous productions with classmates at the Dramat from 1956-60: The Lady’s Not for Burning, A View from The Bridge, and La Ronde; The Crucible, The Skin of Our Teeth, and A Sleep of Prisoners; Danton’s Death, and The Inspector General (featuring Austin Pendleton); Julius Caesar, and Waiting for Godot. The Dramat produced two original musicals during my tenure: Cyrano and Grand Tour, both by eventual Broadway legends Richard Maltby and David Shire.
On my first day of class with drama professor Nikos Psacharopolous he said, “There is only one thing important about this place: it’s 75 miles from New York. Get yourself down there to see everything you can possibly see while you’re here.” And I did: From West Side Story to the debut of the ballet Agon at New York City Ballet, the shows I saw there and the ones I help build and produce at Yale were the influences that directed my post-college life. I hope our busy scholars still have time to work on shows and make it to New York.