HARVARD PLAYS The 4^ Workshop ^^^^^^^^^^^^r * UC-NRLF Second Series . HARVARD PLAYS SECOND SERIES EDITED BY GEORGE P. BAKER PROFESSOR OF DRAMATIC LITERATURE, HARVARD UNIVERSITY PLAYS OF THE 47 WORKSHOP SECOND SERIES TORCHES By KENNETH RAISBECK COOKS AND CARDINALS By NORMAN C. LJNDAU A FLITCH OF BACON By ELEANOR HOLMES HINKLEY THE PLAYROOM By DORIS F. HALMAN NEW YORK BRENTANO'S 1920 Univ. Library, UC Santa Cnnt 1989 Copyright, 1920 BY BRENTANO'S THE-PLIMPTON'PRESS NORWOOD- MA SS'U'S'A 4/7 Attention is called to the penalties provided by law for any infringements of the dramatist's rights, as follows: "Sec. 4966: Any person publicly performing or representing any dramatic or musical composition for which copyright has been obtained, without the consent of the proprietor of said dramatic or musical composition, or his heirs and assigns, shall be liable for damages therefor, such damages in all cases to be assessed at such sum, not less than one hundred dollars for the first and fifty dollars for every subsequent performance, as to the court shall appear to be just. If the unlawful performance and representation be wilful and for profit, such person or persons shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction be im- prisoned for a period not exceeding one year." U. S. Revised Statutes, Title 60, Chap. 3. PREFACE THE welcome accorded the first volume of The 47 Workshop Plays and its companion, The Har- vard Dramatic Club Plays, was so hearty that a second edition of each was printed in January of this year. The increasing demand for more one-act plays from the same sources caused the publishing last June of The Second Series of Dramatic Club Plays, which has been as favorably received as the earlier volumes. The present col- lection is printed further to satisfy this demand. These four plays a fantasy, a costume comedy, a farce comedy, and a romantic tragedy are in every sense genuine products of The Workshop. Written by members of the Work- shop group one play, Torches, from English 47 in this current College year ; first produced by the Workshop ; revised in the light of com- ment by its audience ; these plays were ultimately selected from about a dozen as the four most highly approved by the audiences. Unlike their predecessors, they were not chosen from the many one-act pieces given by The 47 Workshop in some four or five years, but have all seen a first performance within the past twelve months. That there has already been considerable demand for PREFACE them in manuscript augurs well for their recep- tion by the general public. The growing number of presentations of such plays in settlement houses, schools, colleges, and experimental theatres is very encouraging, but a word must be said in protection of the authors. The chief reason why there has been in this country a larger number of really good one-act plays in the last few years is this : they could be written with some justifiable anticipation that they would be played repeatedly and bring in a small royalty each time. Few people, least of all young dramatists, can afford to write even one- act plays for free performance by anyone who cares to use them. There is, however, a curious feeling in many minds that because a one-act play is short it cannot have cost much labor, and that its author should be glad to have it given as often as may be desired without recompense. Though The 47 Workshop is always ready to consider special reasons why the usual small royalties re- quired for presentation of the plays printed for it and The Harvard Dramatic Club should be remitted, it has found it necessary in almost every instance to insist on the regular fees. Only in that way can it insure a succession of other short plays likely to be as satisfactory to its public as the plays already published. This statement may, perhaps, save misunderstanding and disappoint- ment in the future. The Harvard Dramatic Club, resuming in the autumn of 1919 its activities interrupted by the PREFACE War, changed its policy, at least for the present. It now leaves to The 47 Workshop the first production of all plays, long or short, by Harvard and Radcliffe playwrights. Instead, it will busy itself with foreign drama not likely to be seen on the professional stage by its audience. With Erasmus Montanus of Holberg and Fame and the Poet of Lord Dunsahy it started success- fully, last December, on its new policy. The pub- lication of this volume marks, then, the merging of the two series, of The 47 Workshop and the Harvard Dramatic Club plays. The Workshop will continue to print its plays from time to time, as the demand for them persists and the standard set by the volumes already published can be main- tained. GEO. P. BAKER. CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS March, 1920 TORCHES A PLAY IN ONE ACT BY KENNETH RAISBECK CHARACTERS GlSMONDA ALESSANDRO PIETRO MADONNA GIULIA Two NEGRO BOYS Originally produced February 5, 1920, by The 47 Work- shop. Copyright, 1920, by Kenneth Raisbeck. Permission for amateur or professional performances of any kind must first be obtained from The 47 Workshop, Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass. Moving Picture rights reserved. TORCHES SCENE i 1 An upper terrace walled on two sides by a low parapet, on the third the right by a side elevation of the castle which rises blank save for one door; this door stands open and a rec- tangle of gold light from within stretches before it. Over the parapet are seen the tops of cypress trees and Lombardy poplars; beyond loom cone- shaped hills; the deep night sky is pricked with innumerable stars. Three pillars of different heights rise from the parapet; each is hung with garlands of trailing flowers and crowned with a marble figure. At the back the parapet is cut into by two broad low steps which admit to a shallow curving balcony; this jutting balcony is a kind of look-out. The tessellated pavement of the terrace is laid with thick Turkey rugs. To the right stands a stone bench. To the left, under a rich canopy with curtains at back and side, a table is set; lamps and torches depending from the standards of this canopy spill a brilliant flood of light over this table. The rest of the terrace lies in luminous blue dusk. 2 1 For the Prelude, specially written for this play by Randall Thompson Serp, see pp. 4-7. On the last notes the light laughter of Gismonda is heard continuing as the curtain rises. 2 For a small stage the following set has proved more [ 3 ] PRELUDE TORCHES RANDALL THOMPSON -ifl:g_p_4-_Zji= -ipi~g M=*^-M=Efe - 4V * [ 4 ] PRELUDE TORCHES ^pz^^zfe'z^iMiztfc^ ii^!4g| g i^EEpE^:=ttB:F[=: |=P P ~ -// L L actr V :i: :^;- is: :i; -^* -* P -&r^- --- ^9*^ ^ b%Ty s^^^^ =rr^=iz=^=T=i =rfe^zz=af=n * ^ if 1 PRELUDE TORCHES slentando :m +-*-+- I3t* J-J J I *(- <-- <