Prince of Broadway returns to campus

Penn students got a taste of the theater world from one of the industry's most celebrated producers and directors yesterday when alumnus Harold Prince stopped by his alma mater to discuss his illustrious career. Prince, brought to campus as part of the Fox Lessons in Leadership program, spoke to a group of about 30 students in the former Phi Gamma Delta house about his undergraduate experiences at Penn, and offered insight into how to succeed as a leader in both theater and life. Prince is regarded as a pre-eminent Broadway personality. He has won 20 Tony awards for his work on musicals and plays like Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story and The Phantom of the Opera. After glowing introductions from College of Arts and Sciences Dean Richard Beeman and Director of Programming for College House Programs David Fox, Prince took the floor. Drawing from his upper-middle class New York upbringing during the Depression, Prince discussed attending Penn in an era when no organized theater arts program existed on campus. That said, Prince still used his Penn experiences as a springboard into his future endeavors. While a student, Prince got involved with his passion for theater in extracurricular activities. He was one of the founders of the WXPN radio station, and he avidly read and directed radio plays. He encouraged those interested in a future in the arts to get immersed early on. "There is no shortcut" to the top, Prince stressed, reassuring the audience that the majority of those who are talented and remain "focused on their prize" will succeed. Prince credited his success mainly to perseverance and some good luck. "You need to develop the gift of recognizing luck when it's staring you in the face, and you need to prioritize what you want in the long run," said Prince, who bears his name on a theater inside Penn's Annenberg Center. Since he got his start in the heyday of theater in the 1950s, Prince said he remains untainted by much of the materialism in the industry today. He warned students "to keep your eyes not on the financial prize, but on whatever motivates you." Prince also emphasized the value of the strong liberal arts education he received from Penn. "[A liberal arts education] is a place that exposes you to the widest spectrum of experience in the shortest amount of time. It is like a giant buffet; you decide what you like." The hour-long lecture and question-and answer-period, followed by a 15-minute informal reception, was a non-credit seminar offered by the Fox Leadership Program. Prince's presentation was well-received by the attendees, who were mainly students interested in theater. College senior Brad Moore, who has attended several Fox seminars, found Prince's speech to be "excellent." "He connected the theater world with the world of leadership in a way that if you weren't interested in theater, you could understand it," Moore said. Prince is in Philadelphia this week for the opening of his latest project, Three, an ensemble of three one-act musicals at the Prince Theater in Center City.

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