Princeton Summer Theater was founded in 1968 by a group of Princeton University undergraduates under the name 'Summer Intime' as a high grade summer stock theater company.[1]
In the 1930s, members of student-run Theater Intime, initiated summer theater at Princeton. From the late 1920s until the 50s students called the summer company the University Players.[2] The University Players operated from Hamilton Murray Theater for years. In 1968, the group became semi-independent from the University under the name "Summer Intime",and in the late 70s it was renamed Princeton Summer Theater. Every summer a new company of Princeton students forms to present a season of four main stage shows and a children's show.
Dedicated to training future leaders of the theater world, Princeton Summer Theater offers students and young professionals experience working in every area of theatre production, from performance, to design, to marketing, to theater management.[3] In recent years the company has also included members from the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, Rutgers University and Rider University. Notable alumni include John Lithgow, Bebe Neuwirth, William Hootkins, Geoff Rich, Mark Nelson, Winnie Holzman, Bretaigne Windust and Henry Fonda.
Hamilton Murray Theater was dubbed a "jewel box of a theater"[4] by Stuart Duncan of the "Princeton Packet".
Princeton Summer Theater celebrated its half-centennial along with Theatre Intime's centennial in November 2022, after delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pride and Prejudice by Kate Hammill, based on the novel by Jane Austen
Peerless by Jiehae Park
1928
Beyond the Horizon by Eugene O'Neill
The Torch-Bearers by George Kelly
The Jest by Sam Benelli
In the Next Room by Eleanor Belmont and Harriet Ford
The New Way by Annie Nathan Meyer
Is Zat So
The Thirteenth Chair by Bayard Veiller
1929
The Devil in the Cheese by Tom Cushing
The Donovan Affair by Owen Davis (directed by Henry Fonda)
The Last Warning by Thomas F. Fallon (directed by Bretaigne Windust '28)
Merton of the Movies by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly
Crime by Kent Smith
The Bad Man by Porter Emerson Browne
The Czarina by Melchior Lengyel and Ludwig Biro
The Constant Nymph by Margaret Kennedy and Basil Dean (directed by Charles Leatherbee)
1930
Murray Hill by Leslie Howard
The Wooden Kimono by Bretaigne Windust
The Watched Pot by Saki and Charles Maude
Thunder on the Left by Jean Ferguson Black
The Firebrand by Edwin Justus Mayer
Hell-Bent Fer Heaven by Hatcher Hughes
A Kiss for Cinderella by J.M. Barrie
1931
Interference by Roland Pertwee and Harold Dearden
Mr. Pim Passes By by A. A. Milne
Coquette by Ann Preston Bridgers and George Abbott
Her Cardboard Lover by Jacques Deval (Dans sa candeur naïve, translated by Valerie Wyngate and P. G. Wodehouse)
The Guardsman by Ferenc Molnár (original title: Testőr)
The Silent House by John G. Brandon and George Pickett
The Italian Straw Hat (Un chapeau de paille d'Italie) by Eugène Marin Labiche and Marc Michel
In July 1933 a fire devastated the theater, starting in the basement and burning up the entire stage. It was renovated over the summer.
1948
No Exit (Huis clos) by Jean-Paul Sartre
How He Lied to Her Husband by George Bernard Shaw
The Beautiful People by William Saroyan
Yes Is for a Very Young Man by Gertrude Stein[5]
1949
The Vegetable by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Cathleen ni Houlihan by W. B. Yeats
The End of the Beginning by Seán O'Casey
The Streets of New York by Dion Boucicault
In 1951 and 1952, no productions were staged due to the Korean War.[6]
1953
Hello Out There by William Saroyan
The Tempest by William Shakespeare
1954
Right You Are (If you think so) (Così è (se vi pare)) by Luigi Pirandello
A Penny for a Song by John Whiting (American première)
Theatre of the Soul by Nikolai Evreinov
Village Wooing by George Bernard Shaw
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
1956
Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw
Charley's Aunt by Brandon Thomas
Blood Wedding by García Lorca
The Father (Swedish: Fadren) by August Strindberg
Ring Round the Moon by Christopher Fry (adapted from L'Invitation au Château by Jean Anouilh)
Bedtime Story by Seán O'Casey
As You Like It by William Shakespeare
1957
The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder
The Enchanted by Jean Giraudoux
Love's Labour's Lost by William Shakespeare
Lord Byron's Love Letter by Tennessee Williams
1958
A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller
The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder
Legends of Lovers by Jean Anouilh (original title Eurydice, translated by Kitty Black as Point of Departure and republished as Legend of Lovers)
The Burnt Flower Bed (L'aiuola bruciata) by Ugo Betti
An Evening of Tennessee Williams: Auto Da Fé, The Case of the Crushed Petunias, The Unsatisfactory Supper
The Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare
The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams
Amphitryon 38 by Jean Giraudoux
The Trial (Le Procès) by André Gide and Jean-Louis Barrault (after the book by Franz Kafka)
Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw
The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman
L'Idiote (or A Shot in the Dark) by Marcel Achard
Anne of the Thousand Days by Maxwell Anderson
Heartbreak House by George Bernard Shaw
The Eccentricities of a Nightingale by Tennessee Williams
The Playboy of the Western World by J. M. Synge
The Homecoming by Harold Pinter
Misalliance by George Bernard Shaw
The Rainmaker by N. Richard Nash
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg by Peter Nichols
Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall
Happy Birthday, Wanda June by Kurt Vonnegut
A Flea in Her Ear (La Puce à l'oreille) by Georges Feydeau
What the Butler Saw by Joe Orton
The Philanthropist by Christopher Hampton
The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter
The Beaux' Stratagem by George Farquhar
Tango by Sławomir Mrożek
George Washington Crossing the Delaware by Koch
Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw
Baby Want a Kiss by James Costigan
The Lion in Winter by James Goldman
Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad by Arthur Kopit
Charley's Aunt by Brandon Thomas
The Voice of the Turtle by John Van Druten
U.T.B.U. (Unhealthy To Be Unpleasant) by James Kirkwood, Jr.
The Imaginary Invalid (Le malade imaginaire) by Molière
Two for the Seesaw by William Gibson
Cox and Box by F. C. Burnand and Arthur Sullivan
Candida by George Bernard Shaw
The Creation of the World and Other Business by Arthur Miller
110 in the Shade by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt
Alice Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll, Florida Friebus and Eva Le Gallienne
Match Play by McCleery
The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie
Last of the Red Hot Lovers by Neil Simon
Towards Zero by Agatha Christie
The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder
After the Fall by Arthur Miller
The Devil's Disciple by George Bernard Shaw
The Sorcerer by Gilbert and Sullivan
The Mound Builders by Lanford Wilson
Night Watch by Lucille Fletcher
In 1981 the theater was dark.
In 1982 and 1983 the summer company was known as Newstage at Intime
Scapino! by Jim Dale and Frank Dunlop (an adaptation of Molière's Les Fourberies de Scapin)
The Belle of Amherst by William Luce
Happy End by Kurt Weill, Elisabeth Hauptmann, and Bertolt Brecht
The Freedom of the City by Brian Friel
Talking With... by Jane Martin
March of the Falsettos by William Finn
Say Goodnight, Gracie by Rupert Holmes
Side By Side By Sondheim by Stephen Sondheim
Beyond Therapy by Christopher Durang
The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder
A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking by John Ford Noonan
Starting Here, Starting Now by Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire
In 1986, a company from outside PST occupied The Hamilton Murray Theater.
Don Juan in Hell by George Bernard Shaw
Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
The theater was dark in 1988 and 1989.
Three Postcards by Craig Lucas
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie
Same Time, Next Year by Bernard Slade
Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare
Drinking in America by Eric Bogosian
Dial M for Murder by Frederick Knott
Barefoot in the Park by Neil Simon
Run for Your Wife by Ray Cooney
Little Shop of Horrors by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman
Speed-the-Plow by David Mamet
Private Lives by Noël Coward
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
It's Only a Play
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
The Real Inspector Hound by Tom Stoppard
Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare
Wait Until Dark by Frederick Knott
The Fantastiks[7] by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring
Camelot by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
Harvey by Mary Chase
She Loves Me by Joe Masteroff, Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock
The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
The Seagull by Anton Chekhov
During 1999 and 2000 extensive renovations carried out to the theater leaving it "dark".
Barefoot in the Park by Neil Simon
Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds by Paul Zindel
Direct from Moscow[8]
Baby with the Bathwater by Christopher Durang
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
The Fantasticks by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones
How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown by Clark Gesner
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard
The Star-Spangled Girl by Neil Simon
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)[9] by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield
Scenes From American Life[10]
Private Lives by Noël Coward
The Voice of the Turtle by John Van Druten
Godspell by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak
Dial M for Murder by Frederick Knott
Picasso at the Lapin Agile by Steve Martin
Wait Until Dark by Frederick Knott
Little Shop of Horrors by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman
Bell, Book and Candle by John Van Druten
10 Little Indians by Agatha Christie
An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestley
Urinetown by Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
No Time for Comedy by S. N. Behrman
The Underpants adapted by Steve Martin from Die Hose by Carl Sternheim
The Heidi Chronicles by Wendy Wasserstein
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher
Misalliance by George Bernard Shaw
Fifth of July by Lanford Wilson
Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine
Barefoot in the Park by Neil Simon
Beyond Therapy by Christopher Durang
A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen
A Little Night Music by Hugh Wheeler, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Boeing-Boeing by Marc Camoletti
The American Plan by Richard Greenberg
She Loves Me by Joe Masteroff, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and music by Jerry Bock.
Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley
The 39 Steps by Patrick Barlow
Time Stands Still by Donald Margulies
Princeton Summer Theater took a hiatus during the 2014 summer in order to make renovations to the theater.
Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
The Real Inspector Hound by Tom Stoppard, paired with "The Actor's Nightmare" by Christopher Durang
Assassins by John Weidman, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard
Spider's Web by Agatha Christie
Appropriate by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Uncommon Women and Others by Wendy Wasserstein
The Children's Hour by Lillian Hellman
The Baltimore Waltz by Paula Vogel
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks
Due to the pandemic of covid-19, the original season was unable to proceed as planned. Instead, the PST board curated a series of virtual events, including a virtual production of the show Night Vision by Dominique Morisseau and directed by Chamari White-Mink. The season also included a virtual production of a new children's play, A Curious Tea Party by Annika Bennett.Princeton Summer Theater took a hiatus in 2021 due to the covid-19 pandemic.
Company Name | Years | |
---|---|---|
University Players | 1928 - 1967 | |
Summer Intime | 1968 - 1980 | |
Princeton Summer Theater | 1981 | |
Newstage at Intime | 1982 - 1983 | |
Princeton Summer Theater | 1984 to present |