Dominican College of San Rafael - Firebrand Yearbook (San Rafael, CA)

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plays themselves, the Shield Day play and the Christ- mas play have aroused universal applause. Both plays also aroused discussion. The first was more generally liked than the second, but the reactions to it were almost as interesting as the play itself. On the surface there is so large an element of com- edy in Ladies in Retirement that the tragic suffering of the main character, to many people, was lost. The situation is this: a woman of fierce maternal instincts loves her two half-witted sisters as a tigress her two cubs , and for love of them she murders her employer, a woman who has been her best friend. The two half- witted sisters furnish the main comedy, and to many of the audience their comic acting swept away all the other issues. To others their comic scenes were as pathetic as amusing. To some it seemed amoral, and to others it seemed a fine criticism of life, a moving and ironic representation of the futility and the folly of sin. Henri Gheon ' s Christmas in the Village Square was almost a shock to some of the audience who expected a traditional pink and blue Christmas play. A band of strolling gypsy players present the story of the Nativity realistically, but with moving tenderness. To the con- servatives their realism seemed irreverent, but to those who laid aside their preconceived notions of 148

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A toutes, je dis grand merci, au nom de ces pauvres enfants, et au nom de la France. Soyez sures que notre Douce et Belle France sera toujours reconnaissante de ce geste genereux venant de nos bons amis d ' Outre-Atlantique. Odette Cadart-Loomis ' 47 DRAMA AFTER we gave Murder in a Nunnery, we thought ■ we had finished the last word in clever plays and that we never would find anything equally good. But the nineteen forty-six Shield Day play and Christmas play could hold their own, even with Murder in a Nunnery. It takes three things to make the drama suc- cessful in the college year: well chosen plays, talented and w ell-trained actors, and a competent instructor. We have been fortunate in meeting all three require- ments. In the first half-year the emphasis was entirely on plays, and in the second on musical productions. Mrs. Angela Grebel Sullivan, who has succeeded Hedwiga Reicher as instructor in dramatic art, was fortunate to find a group of interested students, who were fortunate to have her as an instructor. So quietly did play practice go on, that the plays have come off before we knew it (and we hear it rumored that the reading of plays in class is most impressive) . For the 147

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white winged angels and golden halos, their very sim- plicity was deeply sincere. On Palm Sunday, the Troupers read in the Mys- teries of the Rosary, and later in the semester the Gil- bert and Sullivan operetta, lolanthe, was presented. SCIENCE CLUB DR. CARROLL went off to Japan. Everyone lamented, but our grief has been soothed by our new professors: Dr. Dodson of the Biology depart- ment, precise with the precision of a newly acquired Ph.D., and with no illusions as to spoon feeding, and Mr. Pillsbury, head of the Chemistry department, of the Peripatetic School, even of temperament, even in his assignments, even in his grades. The Science Club has gone on, but not in unbroken tradition. The old custom of a dinner off campus was waived in favor of a formal initiation of new members in the Fanjeaux living room. Perhaps this is the be- ginning of a new tradition. Dr. Dodson gave a lecture on Genetics and the Russian Controversy; for weeks after, members of the club were still asking, What happened to Vavilov? Sister Thomas was impressed into giving a picture of the activities of the club in its very beginning. We were both amused and inspired by this account of our worthy forebears. 149