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.
Artistic Development
In 2015, Merrimack Repertory Theatre launched the Patriot Program, an artist residency program conceived by Artistic Director Sean Daniels. The MRT Patriots are a group of 79 theatre artists and professionals, from across the country, with access to short-term residencies at MRT throughout the year. The MRT Patriots use MRT resources and housing while developing new work for the stage.
Education and Community Engagement
MRT offers student matinees (daytime performances available only to student groups). Many of these groups are eligible for grant funding through the Partners in Education (PIE) program.
Merrimack Repertory Theatre has offered a summer youth theatre program called Young Company (originally Young Artists at Play), since 1997. Young Company was suspended for the summer of 2015, but is set to resume in July 2016and will focus on participant-generated work. The program will extend beyond the summer, with year-long student participation in workshops and open rehearsals at MRT.
In 2015, MRT launched the Cohort Club, an audience engagement program modeled after a similar initiative at Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, NY. The Cohort Club is composed of community members who are given access to a show’s entire rehearsal and production process, and are then asked to write about their experiences in a format of their choice.
Other programs include post-show discussions, and open-invite receptions before and after select performances.
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