With the actors wearing microphones, the audience sat outside on a cool July afternoon and watched the performance of Marsha Normans "The Laundromat: Third and Oak" though the glass windows of the Princeton Shopping Center Laundromat. "The Laundromat" was staged at the actual set where the play takes place, a laundromat, not in a traditional theater. This innovative theater known as site specific may sound strange, but it has been a twelve-year long tradition of Princeton Repertory.
In 1984, Victoria Liberatori founded the Princeton Repertory, a professional theater company, located in Princeton, New Jersey, which operates under a Small Professional Theater contract with the Actors Equity Association. Princeton Rep is the first New Jersey theater performing site-specific productions. These types of productions are special because they allow the audience to experience theater in an extraordinary way, placing them in the true environment of the play. Through the years, site specific shows have taken the company from an abandoned storefront and to an altar in Illinois.
Twelve years later, Liberatori (Artistic/Producing Director), Anne Reiss (Managing Director) and Kate Siegrist (Associate Producer) still work together to bring Princeton Rep's shows to the stage. Their small office space in Princeton is adorned with framed promotions and advertisements for different shows, photographs of performances and thank you letters from fans. In addition to its season of site-specific works, Princeton Rep performs play readings and hosts a variety of workshops throughout the season. The three dedicated women are now recovering, both physically and mentally, from the company's 2nd Annual Shakespeare in the Square. This year, William Shakespeare's "A Comedy of Errors," directed by Liberatori was staged on the "Green" at Palmar Square in Princeton. "A Comedy of Errors" is the theater's most recent site specific success, where the town people and stores of Princeton serves as the set for the show.
Although Princeton Rep is becoming a staple in the New Jeresy theater industry, the small theater is not trouble free. One persistent problem is Princeton's and the surrounding communities' perception of Princeton Rep. The company is a professional theater, not a community theater and many people have difficulty understanding the difference. In simple terms, a community theater is only required to pay an actor to do a show. With a professional theater, Liberatori said, "There is a different level of commitment and quality from both producers and performers."
Princeton Rep operates under a small professional theater contract with Actors Equity, a professioanl artists union. Therefore, Princeton Rep must meet all of the Actors Equity's standards for employment of their talent. Working with Equity talent means Princeton Rep is not only responsible for the actor's salary but also the health, travel, welfare and pension costs. The union has rules and restrictions regarding rehearsal times, performance length, and so forth. Princeton Rep must abide by all of these guidelines. Both Liberatori and Reiss agree that the community has difficulty understanding what it takes to get a performance to the stage. "We have the Actors Equity contract because we truly believe that all artists including actors have the right to make a living at their work. We want artists who work with us to be financially secure." Not only do people have difficulty understanding the responsibilities of being a professional theater, but they do not realize the financial needs involved in producing a show.
To quote Tennessee Williams and Liberatori, Princeton Rep "must depend on the kindness of strangers." Funding continues to be the company's biggest day-to-day hurdle. The company receives donations from large corporations, local businesses and private individuals. Princeton Rep does thrive on its continuous box office successes. Liberatori believes that "the audiences keep us going." Individual contributions are important to the future of Princeton Rep, but audiences do not realize the finances needed to produce a professional show. Despite its financial adversity, Princeton Rep has continued to maximize the quality of its work with their small budgets.
Another obstacle that relates to the community's perception and financial problems of Princeton Rep is its lack of theater space. This creates a problem with corporate identity. In "Time Off," a Princeton Packet, Stewart Duncan wrote in 1991, "Somebody has got to find a home for Princeton Rep. It is patently unfair that a group with this vision, able to identify usual stage pieces, cast them with professional talent and produce them at low cost, should be reduced to begging for acting space wherever and whenever they become available." Although the company produces site specific production, going where the show takes them, it is still a problem that the theater does not have a stage to call its own.
Despite these difficulties Princeton Rep continues to perform great work. The theater plans to perform Shakespeare in the Square every year, hoping that more members of the community can experience Shakespeare. Also on the calendar is play readings and workshops. One of the workshops, teaches how to write and produce a play. Throughout the season Princeton Rep will continue to debut its unknown stars, as Reiss likes to call them. For example, Amie Quigley, who brought Hamlet to the first Shakespeare in the Square last summer, now has the lead role in Sam Shepard's latest play, "When the World was Green" with The Signature Group at the Public Theater. Quigley is only one example of the theater's success stories.
Unlike their performances, Liberatori, Reiss and Siegrists work never ends, but all three women take great pleasure from what they do. Productions like Shakespeare in the Square make them proud to be a part of Princeton Repertory Company because bringing Shakespeare back to the people is rewarding.
As Reiss explains, "We are here for the love of it. For the love of the English language. Keeping the written word alive, keeps us going. We have a passion and need to share our passion."
The community needs to embrace Princeton Repertory so that the company's exceptional talents and approach to theater can continue. With the growth in competition from the reputable McCarter Theater, also in Princeton, Liberatori, Reiss and Siegrist are slaves to their love for drama and will continue to build Princeton Rep.
Princeton Repertory presents an extraordinary gift of art, worth unwrapping, to the community.
Copyright 1997 Kristin Vitanza. All Rights Reserved.