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HAROLD R. SCOT T Harold Russel l Scot t Jr . wa s bor n i n Morristown , Ne w Jersey , o n 6 September 1935. H e attended Phillips Exeter Academy, majored in English at Harvard , an d receive d hi s degre e i n 1957 . A s a n undergraduat e h e demonstrated astonishin g versatility as an actor i n roles ranging from th e adolescent Boy in Tennessee Williams' The Purification to the elderly Duke of Yor k i n Shakespeare' s Richard II, an d includin g th e titl e parts i n Sophocles' Oedipus Rex and O'Neill's Emperor lones along with the dancing role o f Pari s i n The Golden Apple an d th e singin g rol e o f Jupite r i n Offenbach's Orpheus in Hades. Withi n a year o f hi s graduation a highly praised production of Shakespeare's King Lear was mounted especiall y for him, in which he played the octogenarian monarch at 22 (a feat previousl y accomplished only by England's famed William Devlin). A few months later he appeared in Genet's Deathwatch in New York, which brought him a 1959 Obie Award for his "distinguished performance. " He was invited t o become a member o f th e original compan y o f th e Lincoln Center Repertory Theatre in 1964, and began a career in directing in 1966. Sinc e then he has combined acting and directing on Broadway, off Broadway, at regional theatres throughout the country, and at more than a dozen universities, with occasional stints as teacher, lecturer, and producer. In Shakespear e he has played Macbeth, Othello, Hotspur, Claudius, Ariel, and Brutus, and performed th e leading roles in the American premieres of works by Wole Soyinka. Fo r five summers he was actor and director at the O'Neill Memoria l Theater Center , and fo r tw o seasons artistic director of Cincinnati's Playhouse-in-the-Park. A t Harvard' s Loeb Drama Center , he has directed Genet's The Blacks, Beckett's Waiting forGodot, Pinter's The Birthday Party, and Indians by Arthur Kopit '59. I n 1972 the New England Theatre Conferenc e bestowe d a special awar d o n Scot t fo r excellenc e a s actor, director, and teacher. Hi s records include James Weldon Johnson's God's Trombones, along wit h mor e tha n thirt y "talkin g books " fo r th e American Foundatio n fo r th e Blind . I n 198 0 Scott joine d th e facult y o f Rutgers University, where he is now professor o f theatr e and head of th e graduate directin g program , while continuing t o direc t i n Ne w York an d elsewhere. 312 Harold K Scott Harvard and the Performing Arts: "How Long, O Lord . ..? " Here we ar e twenty years later . An d thos e o f u s who lef t Harvar d determined to pursue a life in the performing arts are still the bastard children o f a n institution tha t ha s never embrace d th e concep t tha t performing is a respectable occupation fo r more than extracurricular hours. Woul d that one could say that it was merely a five/ify-year-ol d problem! Actors, dancers , an d ofte n singer s an d othe r musician s hav e a rather patheti c histor y wher e respectability , o r eve n acceptanc e o r acknowledgement a s responsible beings, is concerned. Performer s in general are thought of as emotionally unstable, financially irresponsible , morally depraved, and not too bright. Fascinatin g to watch, either clinically or vicariously, bu t somehow dangerou s t o be around . No t quite suitable for use in the home, much less the community. It is significant that to this day we in the performing arts still refer to ourselves affectionately, bu t with an unfortunate modicum of selfabnegation , a s "gypsies." Thi s i s the mythi c life-styl e tha t ha s bee n delegated to us. Ho w tragic that Harvard insists on perpetuating that myth. I t is an annoyance and an embarrassment. It is also an irony when one considers how "star"-oriented we have become a s a nation . Joh n Kenned y wa s th e...

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