Harvard Law School Drama Society records

In 1961 a small group of law students seeking a creative outlet and a brief respite from the rigors of their studies formed the Drama Society and established the tradition of having an annual show called an Equity Review. Soon, the annual productions acquired playful titles like Lawyers, Lunatics and Lovers, in 1964 and The Recline and Fall of a Law Student in 1965. By 1966 the shows developed plots, departing from their previous variety show style formats, and patterned themselves after Broadway musicals with Kid Me Not Or The Matter of Tot (1966), Laity Luck (1967), The Jealous Mistress (1968) and The Spider People (1969).

By 1970 with Have Law, Will Gavel's humorous references to Ralph Nader, the annual show tended to parody current events, popular culture, literature, film, and the specific concerns of Harvard Law School students. Sometimes Law School professors were lampooned and some even chose to pitch in with cameo roles. The annual shows or parodies during the seventies were as follows: From Here To Perpetuity (1971) which had a philosophical theme, The Greatest Show Unearthed (1972) cast the Law School as a circus, Praise the Law and Pass the Erudition (1973) was a Dantean journey from hell to paradise, The Paper Waste (1974) parodies the movie " The Paper Chase ", Shake A Legacy (1975) was a lighthearted Western, Laws (1976), parodied the Spielberg film " Jaws, " Holmes Is Where The Hark Is (1977) poked fun at Arthur Conan Doyle, It Takes A Fief (1978) was informed by Arthurian legend, Paradise Remanded or Replevin Can Wait (1979) was a Faustian parable. Supraman in 1980 parodied the movie " Superman. " In 1981 the group performed a comedy about love and romance called Contempt of Courtship and in 1982 the musical was set in a summer camp for law students and entitled Summery Proceedings. Hitchcock's " North By Northwest " was evoked in 1983's North By North Middle, Orwell in 1984's 1984 and 1985's Starry Descisis was a Sci-Fi spoof. The students tackled Dickens with 1986's A Commencement Carol and made reference in 1987 to popular television program " Dallas " in Austin...Who Shot J.D.?. In 1988, Malice in Wonderlaw drew from the children's tale by Lewis Carroll. In 1990 the musical The Crimson Slippers Or There's No Place Like Holmes was informed by the film " The Wizard of Oz. " Bernstein's " West Side Story " was the inspiration for the tragic West Law Story (1991), and The Cocky Lawyer Picture Show (1995) parodied " The Rocky Horror Picture Show ".

The annual musical parodies were not the only shows that the HLS Drama Society produced. After 1978, nearly every year in the fall, the group staged an annual musical revue evocative of the earliest HLS Drama Society shows, the Equity Reviews. Some of the titles of these productions are From Rags To Rhythm (1978), Something L's (1979), Prisms (1980), It's A Long Way to Certiorari (1982), Judicial Revue (1983), Just Desserts (1984), Puttin' On the Writs (1985), Hollywood Briefs (1987), and It's A Long Long Way to Certiorari.

In addition to these shows, the Drama Society occasionally staged dramas by famous authors and occasionally well known musicals. Some of these kinds of productions were Caucasian Chalk Circle (1979), Twelve Angry Jurors (1981), The Importance of Being Earnest (1982), The Real Inspector Hound and Sacre-Tease (1983), Blithe Spirit (1984), The Gingham Dog (1985) Working (1986) an original musical based on a book of the same name by Studs Terkel, The Apple Tree (1998), Dancing At Lughnasa (1994) and The Fantasticks in 1995.