Merrimack Repertory Theatre
Encyclopedia
Merrimack Repertory Theatre is a non-profit professional theatre
located in Lowell, Massachusetts
. Performances are presented September–May at the historic Liberty Hall, a 308-seat theatre located adjacent to the Lowell Memorial Auditorium
. Known for its contemporary productions and classic revivals, the company currently produces seven plays each season, plus a number of education programs for students and adults.
, who allowed the company use of the university's Mahoney Hall. Merrimack Regional Theatre incorporated on February 1, 1979, and Nancy Donahue assumed presidency of the company.
Merrimack Regional Theatre opened its first production, The Passion of Dracula on October 23, 1979. Mark Kaufman was the theatre's first Artistic Director, and John Briggs the first Managing Director.
In 1980, Merrimack Regional Theatre began a season of free outdoor theatre weekends in Mack Plaza local to downtown Lowell, MA. Acting for the theatre
during this time was Michael Chiklis
, of later TV drama The Shield
fame. The free summer theatre
program was canceled after just one season.
In 1982, the Broad of Trustees hired Dan Schay as Producing Artistic Director. One year later, Merrimack Regional Theatre moved to its current location at Liberty Hall. During the 6 month relocation, Merrimack Regional Theatre changed its name to Merrimack Repertory Theatre. During this period, the theatre's subscription base increased dramatically, and the theatre's budget doubled.
In 1990, David Kent became Producing Artistic Director. When David Kent left the company in 2001, the Board of Trustees selected Charles Towers as Artistic Director. Four years later, the company hired its first Executive Director Tom Parrish. In December 2010, Parrish announced he would leave at the end of February 2011 to take a similar position at a much larger theater in Rochester, New York. The Board of Trustees is currently looking for a new Executive Director.
The Young Artists at Play, a summer theatre camp for students grades 1-12, was founded in 1997. It continues today.
. Since 2006, MRT has operated in the black.
The current mission statement of Merrimack Repertory Theatre is:
.
1990 - New England Theatre Award for Excellence.
1990-94 - Four Boston Drama Critics Awards for Filumeni.
1992-93 - The Survivor:A Cambodian Odyssey named Best Play at Humana Festival of New American Plays
.
1996 - All in the Timing
wins Boston Drama Critics Award for Best Play
1996 - Hamlet
wins Best of Boston Award
1997 - 'night, Mother
wins Best of Boston
1998 - Nixon's Nixon wins Best of Boston
2005 - Harold Pinter
's The Homecoming named to the Best of 2005 list of the Boston Globe, Boston Phoenix, Boston Courant, Edge Boston and Lowell Sun.
2008 - A Delicate Balance receives seven Independent Reviewers of New England Awards, including best production and best director for Artistic Director Charles Towers.
2009 - Bad Dates wins Elliot Norton Award from Boston Theatre Critics Association for Outstanding Solo Performance.
2010 - The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead
wins an IRNE (Independent Reviewers of New England) Award for Best Solo Performance.
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
located in Lowell, Massachusetts
Lowell, Massachusetts
Lowell is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA. According to the 2010 census, the city's population was 106,519. It is the fourth largest city in the state. Lowell and Cambridge are the county seats of Middlesex County...
. Performances are presented September–May at the historic Liberty Hall, a 308-seat theatre located adjacent to the Lowell Memorial Auditorium
Lowell Memorial Auditorium
The Lowell Memorial Auditorium is an indoor facility located in downtown Lowell, Massachusetts. It is dedicated to local veterans of war.The 2,800 seat venue was constructed in 1922 by the architectural firm of Blackall, Clapp & Whittemore...
. Known for its contemporary productions and classic revivals, the company currently produces seven plays each season, plus a number of education programs for students and adults.
History
Merrimack Repertory Theatre was co-ounded in 1979 by Barabara Abrahamian, John Briggs, Mark Kaufman, and DJ Maloney. Barbara Abrahamian met actor and directors DJ Maloney and Mark Kaufman at a summer stock in NH (where Chiklis played a teen in Bye, Bye, Birdie). There they planned the beginnings a of professional non-profit theatre company in Lowell, MA. Returning to Lowell in the Fall of 1978, the three formed the Committee for Legitimate Theatre of Lowell. Maloney and Kaufman wrote the "proposal" and commuted in Maloney's car from NYC to Lowell meeting and planning with Barbara and husband Al. Merrimack Regional Theatre's first venue was provided by University of Lowell President John DuffJohn Duff
John Francis Duff was a Canadian racecar driver who won many races and has been inducted in the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame. He was one of only two Canadians who raced and won on England’s famous Brooklands Motor Course. The other, Kay Petre, is already an honoured member of the CMHF...
, who allowed the company use of the university's Mahoney Hall. Merrimack Regional Theatre incorporated on February 1, 1979, and Nancy Donahue assumed presidency of the company.
Merrimack Regional Theatre opened its first production, The Passion of Dracula on October 23, 1979. Mark Kaufman was the theatre's first Artistic Director, and John Briggs the first Managing Director.
In 1980, Merrimack Regional Theatre began a season of free outdoor theatre weekends in Mack Plaza local to downtown Lowell, MA. Acting for the theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
during this time was Michael Chiklis
Michael Chiklis
Michael Charles Chiklis is an American actor, voice actor, occasional director and television producer. Some of the previous roles for which he is best known include Commissioner Tony Scali on the ABC police drama The Commish, LAPD Detective Vic Mackey on the FX police drama The Shield, Thing in...
, of later TV drama The Shield
The Shield
The Shield is an American television drama series starring Michael Chiklis which premiered on March 12, 2002 on FX in the United States and concluded on November 25, 2008 after seven seasons...
fame. The free summer theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
program was canceled after just one season.
In 1982, the Broad of Trustees hired Dan Schay as Producing Artistic Director. One year later, Merrimack Regional Theatre moved to its current location at Liberty Hall. During the 6 month relocation, Merrimack Regional Theatre changed its name to Merrimack Repertory Theatre. During this period, the theatre's subscription base increased dramatically, and the theatre's budget doubled.
In 1990, David Kent became Producing Artistic Director. When David Kent left the company in 2001, the Board of Trustees selected Charles Towers as Artistic Director. Four years later, the company hired its first Executive Director Tom Parrish. In December 2010, Parrish announced he would leave at the end of February 2011 to take a similar position at a much larger theater in Rochester, New York. The Board of Trustees is currently looking for a new Executive Director.
The Young Artists at Play, a summer theatre camp for students grades 1-12, was founded in 1997. It continues today.
Merrimack Repertory Theatre Now
Merrimack Repertory Theatre has produced over 200 productions, including 14 world premieres and 32 regional premieres. Merrimack Repertory Theatre's annual attendance exceeds 40,000 and the company has sold over one million tickets. Merrimack Repertory Theatre is committed to artistic excellence and attempts to be accessible to all members of its surrounding community with a number of discount programs for low-income communities, students and seniors. Over the last 30 years, Merrimack Repertory Theatre’s education, outreach, and discount programs have served over 100,000 students and 100,000 senior citizens while building working partnerships with more than 50 different community and ethnically based service organizations. Merrimack Repertory Theatre is a member of the League of Resident TheatresLeague of Resident Theatres
The League of Resident Theaters is the largest professional theater association of its kind in the United States, with 76 member Theaters located in every major market in the U.S., including 29 states and the District of Columbia...
. Since 2006, MRT has operated in the black.
The current mission statement of Merrimack Repertory Theatre is:
To advance the cause of human understanding by creating theatrical productions at the highest level of artistic excellence and making them affordable to the broadest possible community.
2008-09 Season
The 2008-09 Season Included:- The FantasticksThe FantasticksThe Fantasticks is a 1960 musical with music by Harvey Schmidt and lyrics by Tom Jones. It was produced by Lore Noto. It tells an allegorical story, loosely based on the play "The Romancers" by Edmond Rostand, concerning two neighboring fathers who trick their children, Luisa and Matt, into...
, music by Harvey SchmidtHarvey SchmidtHarvey Lester Schmidt is an American composer for musical theatre. He is best known for composing the music for the longest running musical in history, The Fantasticks, which ran off-Broadway from 1960 - 2002.-Biography:...
and lyrics by Tom JonesTom Jones (writer)Tom Jones is a lyricist of musical theatre. His best known work is The Fantasticks, which ran off-Broadway from 1960 until 2002, and the hit song from the same, Try to Remember. Other songs from "The Fantasticks" include "Soon It's Gonna Rain", "Much More" and "I Can See It"... - SkylightSkylight (play)Skylight is a play by British dramatist David Hare. It opened at the Royal National Theatre, Cottesloe, directed by Richard Eyre, in 1995. The production then moved to the Wyndham's Theatre for a short run from 13 February 1996, after winning the Laurence Olivier Award for the 1995...
by David HareDavid Hare (playwright)Sir David Hare is an English playwright and theatre and film director.-Early life:Hare was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex, the son of Agnes and Clifford Hare, a sailor. He was educated at Lancing, an independent school in West Sussex, and at Jesus College, Cambridge...
- IRNE - Best Actress Amanda Fulks - A View of the Harbor by Richard DresserRichard DresserRichard Dresser is a popular American playwright whose work has been widely performed in theatres across the United States, as well as in Europe. In addition to his plays, he wrote the book for the Broadway musical Good Vibrations and the musical Johnny Baseball...
- Regional Premiere and Merrimack Repertory Theatre's 200th Production - Tranced by Bob Clyman - Regional Premiere
- Bad Dates by Theresa RebeckTheresa RebeckTheresa Rebeck is an American playwright, television writer and novelist. Her work has appeared on the Broadway and Off-Broadway stage, in film, and on television. Among her awards are the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award.-Biography:...
- ELLIOT NORTON - Outstanding Solo Performance Elizabeth Aspenlieder - A Moon for the MisbegottenA Moon for the MisbegottenA Moon for the Misbegotten is a play by Eugene O'Neill. The play can be thought of as a sequel to the autobiographical Long Day's Journey into Night...
by Eugene O'NeillEugene O'NeillEugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...
2009-10 Season
The 2009-10 Season included:- Flings and Eros - A World Premiere by The Flying Karamazov BrothersThe Flying Karamazov BrothersThe Flying Karamazov Brothers are a juggling and comedy troupe who have been performing since 1973. They learned their trade while performing as street artists in Santa Cruz, California...
- The SeafarerThe Seafarer (play)The Seafarer is a 2006 play by Irish playwright Conor McPherson. It is set on Christmas Eve in Baldoyle, a coastal suburb north of Dublin city. The play centers on James "Sharkey" Harkin, an alcoholic who has recently returned to live with his blind, aging brother, Richard Harkin...
by Conor McPhersonConor McPhersonConor McPherson is an Irish playwright and director.-Life and career:McPherson was born in Dublin, . He was educated at University College Dublin, McPherson began writing his first plays there as a member of UCD Dramsoc, the college's dramatic society, and went on to found Fly By Night Theatre... - Heroes by Gérald SibleyrasGérald SibleyrasGérald Sibleyras is a French dramatist, and actor, most noted for his 2003 play, Le vent des peupliers that received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy in 2006.-Work:* On a très peu d'amis * Le vent des peupliers...
, Adapted by Tom StoppardTom StoppardSir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
- Regional Premiere - Fabuloso A Play by John KolvenbachJohn KolvenbachJohn Kolvenbach is an American playwright known for works including Gizmo Love, Love Song, On An Average Day, Goldfish, and Fabuloso....
- Black Pearl Sings! A Play with music by Frank Higgins - Regional Premiere
- The Last Days of Mickey & Jean by Richard DresserRichard DresserRichard Dresser is a popular American playwright whose work has been widely performed in theatres across the United States, as well as in Europe. In addition to his plays, he wrote the book for the Broadway musical Good Vibrations and the musical Johnny Baseball...
- World Premiere - The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful RedheadThe Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful RedheadThe Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead is a one-woman play by Australian playwright Robert Hewett. It is presented as a series of eight individual monologues by seven characters who were affected by the actions of Rhonda Russell, the first character in the play.The play was premiered at...
by Robert Hewett - Regional Premiere
2010-11 Season
The 2010-11 Season is:- The Complete World of Sports (abridged) - by Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor, featuring the Reduced Shakespeare CompanyReduced Shakespeare CompanyThe Reduced Shakespeare Company is an American acting troupe that writes and performs unsubtle, fast-paced, seemingly improvisational condensations of huge topics.- Overview :...
- East Coast Premiere - Four Places by Joel Drake Johnson - East Coast Premiere
- Beasley's Christmas Party adapted by C.W. Munger, from the story by Booth TarkingtonBooth TarkingtonBooth Tarkington was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novels The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams...
- Regional Premiere - TrystTryst (drama)Tryst had its debut on April 6, 2006 at the Promenade Theatre in New York.The play, by British playwright Karoline Leach, has been described as a "subversion of Edwardian melodrama", in which the stereotypical actions and responses of the characters are used to ask usually unasked questions about...
by Karoline LeachKaroline LeachKaroline Leach is a British playwright and author, best known for her book In the Shadow of the Dreamchild , which re-examines the life of Lewis Carroll , the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland... - The Exceptionals by Bob Clyman - World Premiere
- Two Jews Walk into a War... by Seth Rozin - Regional Premiere
- A Picasso by Jeffrey HatcherJeffrey HatcherJeffrey Hatcher is a playwright and screenwriter. He wrote the stage play Compleat Female Stage Beauty, which he later adapted into a screenplay, shortened to just Stage Beauty...
- Regional Premiere
2011-2012 Season
The 2011-12 Season is planned to be (as of April 12, 2011):- The Persian Quarter by Kathleen Cahill
- This Verse Business by A.M. Dolan
- The Ultimate Christmas Show (abridged) - premier of a new play by the Reduced Shakespeare CompanyReduced Shakespeare CompanyThe Reduced Shakespeare Company is an American acting troupe that writes and performs unsubtle, fast-paced, seemingly improvisational condensations of huge topics.- Overview :...
- The Voice of the TurtleThe Voice of the Turtle (play)The Voice of the Turtle is a comedic Broadway play by John William Van Druten dealing with the challenges of the single life in New York City during World War II...
by John Van Druten - Daddy Long Legs a musical with book by Tony Award winner John CairdJohn Caird (director)John Newport Caird is a British stage director and writer of plays, musicals and operas. He is an Honorary Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, a regular director with the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain and the Principal Guest Director of the Royal Dramatic Theatre,...
, music and lyrics by Paul GordonPaul Gordon (composer)-Career:Gordon composed the music and lyrics for the stage musical Jane Eyre which ran on Broadway in 2001, for which he received a Tony Award nomination...
, based on the novel by Jean WebsterJean WebsterJean Webster was an American writer and author of many books including Daddy-Long-Legs and Dear Enemy... - Mrs. Whitney by John KolvenbachJohn KolvenbachJohn Kolvenbach is an American playwright known for works including Gizmo Love, Love Song, On An Average Day, Goldfish, and Fabuloso....
- Ghost-Writer by Michael HollingerMichael HollingerMichael Hollinger is an American playwright who is currently an assistant professor of Theatre at Villanova University and a resident playwright at . He received a Bachelor of Music in viola performance from Oberlin Conservatory in 1984 and a Master of Arts in theatre from Villanova in 1989...
Select Awards
1989 - Boston Drama Critics Award for production of Waiting for GodotWaiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot is an absurdist play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for someone named Godot to arrive. Godot's absence, as well as numerous other aspects of the play, have led to many different interpretations since the play's...
.
1990 - New England Theatre Award for Excellence.
1990-94 - Four Boston Drama Critics Awards for Filumeni.
1992-93 - The Survivor:A Cambodian Odyssey named Best Play at Humana Festival of New American Plays
Humana Festival of New American Plays
Humana Festival of New American Plays is an internationally renowned festival that celebrates the contemporary American playwright. Produced annually in Louisville, Kentucky by Actors Theatre of Louisville, this prestigious event showcases new theatrical works and draws producers, critics,...
.
1996 - All in the Timing
All in the Timing
All in the Timing is a collection of one-act plays by the American playwright David Ives written between 1987 and 1993. It was first published by Dramatists Play Service in 1994, with a collection of six plays; however, the updated collection contains fourteen. The short plays are almost all...
wins Boston Drama Critics Award for Best Play
1996 - Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
wins Best of Boston Award
1997 - 'night, Mother
'night, Mother
'Night, Mother is a 1983 play by Marsha Norman about a daughter, Jessie, and her mother, Thelma . The play opens with Jessie calmly telling Mama that by morning she will be dead, as she plans to commit suicide that very evening...
wins Best of Boston
1998 - Nixon's Nixon wins Best of Boston
2005 - Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
's The Homecoming named to the Best of 2005 list of the Boston Globe, Boston Phoenix, Boston Courant, Edge Boston and Lowell Sun.
2008 - A Delicate Balance receives seven Independent Reviewers of New England Awards, including best production and best director for Artistic Director Charles Towers.
2009 - Bad Dates wins Elliot Norton Award from Boston Theatre Critics Association for Outstanding Solo Performance.
2010 - The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead
The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead
The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead is a one-woman play by Australian playwright Robert Hewett. It is presented as a series of eight individual monologues by seven characters who were affected by the actions of Rhonda Russell, the first character in the play.The play was premiered at...
wins an IRNE (Independent Reviewers of New England) Award for Best Solo Performance.