Merrimack Repertory Theatre
 Lowell's Liberty Hall, home of Merrimack Repertory Theatre. The Lowell Memorial Auditorium is adjoined to the left. The building dates back to 1922. | |
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| Address | 50 East Merrimack Street Lowell, Massachusetts United States |
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| Type | Non-Profit Theatre |
| Capacity | 279 |
| Opened | 1979 |
| Years active | 1979-Present |
| Website | |
| www.mrt.org | |
Merrimack Repertory Theatre (MRT) is a non-profit professional theatre located in Lowell, Massachusetts. Known for its productions of contemporary work and world premieres, the company presents a September - May season of seven plays at the Nancy L. Donahue Theatre in the historic Liberty Hall, a 279-seat theatre located adjacent to the Lowell Memorial Auditorium. MRT is the only professional theatre company in the Merrimack Valley region of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and one of three League of Resident Theatres (LORT) members in Massachusetts.[1]
MRT operates under the leadership of Artistic Director Sean Daniels and Executive Director Elizabeth Kegley.
History
Merrimack Repertory Theatre was co-founded in 1979 by Barabara Abrahamian, John Briggs, and Mark Kaufman, who had met at working at a New Hampshire summer stock theatre (where a young Michael Chiklis, a Lowell native who would go on to appear in several MRT productions before moving on to a film career, was appearing in a production of Bye Bye Birdie). They conceived the idea of a professional non-profit theatre company in Lowell, Massachusetts and formed the “Committee for Legitimate Theatre in Lowell.”
The company was incorporated as Merrimack Regional Theatre on February 1, 1979. MRT’s first venue was Mahoney Hall at the University of Lowell (now University of Massachusetts Lowell). Its first production, The Passion of Dracula,opened on October 23, 1979. Nancy Donahue assumed presidency of the company. Mark Kaufman was the theatre's first Artistic Director, and John Briggs the first Managing Director.
Dan Schay was hired as Producing Artistic Director in 1982, and in 1983, the company moved to its current location at Liberty Hall, changing its name to Merrimack Repertory Theatre. Schay produced MRT’s first world premiere (Jack Neary’s First Night) in 1987, and has been succeeded by David Kent (1989-2000), Charles Towers (2000-2015), and Sean Daniels (2015-present).
In 2012, the theatre underwent an extensive $750,000 renovation. Improvements included wider seats with more legroom (the overall number of seats was reduced from 309 to 279), a refurbished theatre lobby and concession area, and a larger, more accessible box office.[2] The theatre was named in honor of founder Nancy L. Donahue.
| Name | Years Served |
|---|---|
| Sean Daniels | 2015-Present |
| Charles Towers | 2001-2015 |
| David Kent | 1989-2001 |
| Dan Schay | 1982-1989 |
| Mark Kaufman | 1979-1982 |
| Name | Years Served |
|---|---|
| Elizabeth Kegley | 2013–Present |
| Steven Leon | 2011-2013 |
| Tom Parish | 2005-2011 |
Notable Productions
- Sean Daniels’ The White Chip (January 2016, Dir. Sheryl Kaller), a dark comedy stage memoir about the MRT Artistic Director’s recovery from alcoholism, produced by five-time Tony nominee Tom Kirdahy. Free admission was offered to individuals in recovery from addiction, sponsored by local recovery organizations Lowell House, Megan’s House, and Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery (MOAR).[3]
- Lauren Gunderson’s I and You (October 2015, Dir. Sean Daniels), which follows two teenagers on one night as they work through a school assignment on Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, garnered praise from the Boston Globe, which called it "Funny and moving by turns… suffused with a warmth that does not cloy, an intimacy that does not stifle, and a wit that connects it all together."[4] The production ran Off-Broadway at 59E59 Theatres in January 2016.[5]
- The Lion, singer-songwriter Benjamin Scheuer’s award-winning musical memoir (also directed by Daniels), launched its national tour from MRT in August 2015, following runs in New York and London.
- Michael Golamco’s Year Zero (September 2014, Dir. Kyle Fabel), brought several partnerships between MRT and organizations in Lowell’s Cambodian-American community (the second-largest in the United States). Among these partners was the Angkor Dance Troupe (subject of the 2004 documentary Monkey Dance), which now regularly uses MRT’s performance space in Liberty Hall.[6]
- The world premiere staged reading of Lowell native Jack Kerouac's only play, Beat Generation (2012, Dir. Charles Towers), in partnership with UMass Lowell. (The script had been uncovered in a New Jersey warehouse in 2005.)[7]
- Bob Clyman’s Secret Order (Novemeber 2007, Dir. Charles Towers), was the first MRT production to make an Off-Broadway Transfer.[8]
- The Lowell Trilogy, a set of three works from playwright Jon Lipsky, ran from 1992-1994. The Trilogy includes Lipsky’s original play Living in Exile, plus adaptations of Kerouac’s Maggie Cassidy (Maggie’s Riff) and Haing S. Ngor’s Cambodian Odyssey (The Survivor: A Cambodian Odyssey).
- Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol was produced for 11 consecutive seasons, from 1983-1993.
- Jack Neary’s First Night (1987, Dir. Joan Courtney Murray), MRT’s first world premiere.
- Bob Hall & David Richmond’s The Passion of Dracula (1979, Dir. Mark Kaufman), MRT’s first production.
2009-10 Season
The 2009-10 Season included:
- Flings and Eros - A World Premiere by The Flying Karamazov Brothers
- The Seafarer by Conor McPherson
- Heroes by Gérald Sibleyras, Adapted by Tom Stoppard - Regional Premiere
- Fabuloso A Play by John Kolvenbach
- Black Pearl Sings! A Play with music by Frank Higgins - Regional Premiere
- The Last Days of Mickey & Jean by Richard Dresser - World Premiere
- The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead by Robert Hewett - Regional Premiere
2010-11 Season
The 2010-11 Season included:
- The Complete World of Sports (abridged) - by Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor, featuring the Reduced Shakespeare Company - 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 Tarkington - Regional Premiere
- Tryst by Karoline Leach
- The Exceptionals by Bob Clyman - World Premiere
- Two Jews Walk into a War... by Seth Rozin - Regional Premiere
- A Picasso by Jeffrey Hatcher - Regional Premiere
2011-2012 Season
The 2011-12 Season included:
- 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 Company
- The Voice of the Turtle by John Van Druten
- Daddy Long Legs a musical with book by Tony Award winner John Caird, music and lyrics by Paul Gordon, based on the novel by Jean Webster
- Mrs. Whitney by John Kolvenbach
- Ghost-Writer by Michael Hollinger
2012-2013 Season
The 2012-13 Season included:
- Homestead Crossing by William Donnelly
- Memory House by Kathleen Tolan
- Half 'n Half 'n Half by John Kolvenbach
- Shakespeare's Will by Vern Thiessen
- Red by John Logan
- Proof by David Auburn
- Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet
Select Awards
1989 - Boston Drama Critics Award for production of Waiting for Godot.
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.
2012 - Daddy Long Legs wins the Independent Reviewers of New England Award for Best Musical, Large Theatre.
References
- ^ http://lort.org/LORT_Member_Theatres.html
- ^ http://www.lowellsun.com/ci_21433390/
- ^ https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/theater-dance/2015/10/19/warmth-wit-and-whitman-merrimack-rep-and-you/7SXKwMmEHIfraDOWdcpGDJ/story.html
- ^ https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/theater-dance/2015/10/19/warmth-wit-and-whitman-merrimack-rep-and-you/7SXKwMmEHIfraDOWdcpGDJ/story.html
- ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/theater/lauren-gunderson-on-i-and-you-a-play-with-an-explosive-twist.html?_r=0
- ^ http://www.lowellsun.com/lifestyles/ci_26512146/telling-untold-stories
- ^ https://www.uml.edu/News/press-releases/2012/KerouacPlayRelease.aspx
- ^ http://www.59e59.org/archive/SecretOrder/PlaybillReview.pdf