The first dramatic productions at Smith were performed by members of societies in the individual student houses on campus. The first of these was formed by Hatfield House in January of 1878 and was named Alpha Society. Washburn and Hubbard Houses soon followed with Olla Podrida in the fall of 1878 and Tertium Quid in 1879, respectively. Houses also occasionally banded together into groups under one name. Sarm Ganok was the name for the Stoddard- Dewey-Hatfield Houses group, and was adapted from the Chinese words for "Three Houses." To these was added Senior Dramatics in 1883 as a feature of Commencement week, although not officially added to the program until 1887. In 1889 the various dramatic societies had achieved official recognition by the administration of the College and in 1891 it became customary for performances to be held in town at the newly-opened Academy of Music. In 1896, owing to the tremendous popularity of Alpha Society, a sister organization was formed, called Phi Kappa Psi, and by 1901 most of the academic departments were also putting on shows. By 1908 the number of productions had out-paced itself to such an extent as to require limitations. The house dramatic groups were dissolved and in their place a divisional system based on class year was instituted. Four new groups were thus formed, each giving one show per year. The groups were called Cap and Bells, Sock and Buskin, The Players and The Mummers. This system was in turn discarded in 1919 when Samuel A. Eliot, of the Department of English Language and Literature, developed the Dramatics Association to replace it and added a course in play production to the Spoken English curriculum. In 1927 even the Senior Dramatics were taken over and all productions were given through the Dramatics Association and the Theatre Workshop, as the performances by Eliot's students were called. That same year also marked the first year of an actor/actress exchange with Amherst College and an end to the tradition of all-female casts in Smith plays. The Department of Theatre was not formed until the 1942-43 academic year, at which time Hallie Flannagan was made its chair. Seven years later, due to flagging student interest and lack of funds, the Dramatics Association voted to merge with the theatre department. All productions thereafter were produced by the department.