As archivist
Gerasimos Tsourapas described its first days:
Cole Porter was undoubtedly the best-known of the Dramat's early Twentieth-Century figures. Not only did he perform both male and female roles, but he wrote and directed three "smoker" productions and composed the totemic song "The Queen of the Yale Dramat" (1911) satirizing drag roles. His first show,
And Still the Villain Pursued Her, poked fun at melodramas, while the second,
Kaleidoscope, was a send-up of college life. Since Porter's days the Dramat has fostered the careers of many distinguished actors, for example in the World Premiere production of
Arthur Miller's
The Crucible in 1957, (in two acts) prior to Broadway. In 1960
Sam Waterston and
Austin Pendleton starred in
Waiting for Godot. The Dramat was the first company to perform
Thornton Wilder's one act play,
The Long Christmas Dinner. During the 1970s the company expanded its range and sophistication, with daring productions such as
The Frogs, a musical adaptation of the
Aristophanes comedy by
Stephen Sondheim and
Burt Shevelove, staged in the pool of
Payne Whitney Gymnasium.
Ted Tally, a future Academy Award-winning screenwriter for
Silence of the Lambs, starred opposite
Alley Mills of television's
The Wonder Years. While
Meryl Streep trod the boards at the Drama School,
Mark Linn-Baker and
Robert Picardo delighted audiences on the Dramat stage. The 1980s saw additional steps forward, with original works by undergraduates such as
Tina Landau, class of 1984. Her
In the Image of Kings was a provocative treatment of lunatic monarchs. Since then the Dramat has maintained its high standards with both classics and modern masterpieces, musicals, reviews, light operas, and the occasional spoof in the tradition of Porter. == Administration ==