McCarter Theatre Center (Princeton, N.J.)

The McCarter Theatre, Center for the Performing Arts, of Princeton, New Jersey offers over 200 performances of theater, dance, music and special events each year.

Built in 1929 for Princeton University, in 1973 operation of the theater was transferred to the McCarter Theatre Company, a separate corporation. In 1994 the McCarter Theatre won the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theater, the first professional theater in the mid-Atlantic region to be so honored. A non-profit organization, the heart of its activity is its annual five-play series under the artistic direction of Emily Mann. This series presents new works as well as innovative interpretations of classic drama.

From the guide to the McCarter Theatre production materials, 1994-2007, (The New York Public Library. Billy Rose Theatre Division.)

The McCarter Theatre was conceived as a permanent home for the Princeton University Triangle Club. It opened on February 21, 1930.

McCarter began as a booking theater. The McCarter Theatre did not produce its own shows, rather they booked touring shows and performers. During the 1930s, McCarter was often used by Broadway producers as a venue for previews of shows yet to debut on Broadway. The theatre also hosted Princeton University Concerts prior to their moving to Richardson Auditorium.

Following World War II, many Broadway producers reduced the number of non-Broadway previews virtually eliminating one of McCarter’s main revenue generators. Mounting debt forced the theater to transfer the title and the building and the reasonability of its operating costs to Princeton University. Now a University entity, Princeton hired Milton Lyon as Executive Director of the newly McCarter Theatre Company in 1960 McCarter. Lyon immediately transformed McCarter, turning it from a booking theater into a producing theater. McCarter Theatre flourished under Lyon and his successors Arthur Lithgow, Michael Kahn, Nagle Jackson, and most recently, Emily Mann. McCarter significantly increased its music and dance bookings in the 1960s and remains known for offering a wide variety of quality performances in the arts.

Today, the McCarter Theatre Company continues to produce its own shows and serves as the home for Princeton University theater.

From the guide to the McCarter Theatre Records, 1928-2007, (Princeton University. Library. Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections)