| Summit Playhouse | |
| Location: | 10 New England Avenue Summit, New Jersey |
| Coordinates: | 40.715°N -74.3653°W |
| Built: | ca. 1891 |
| Architecture: | Romanesque |
| Architect: | Arthur Bates Jennings |
| Added: | December 30, 2009 |
| Refnum: | 09001177 |
| Designated Other1 Name: | New Jersey Register of Historic Places |
| Designated Other1 Abbr: | NJRHP |
| Designated Other1 Link: | New Jersey Register of Historic Places |
| Designated Other1 Date: | September 29, 2009 |
| Designated Other1 Number: | 4407 [1] |
| Designated Other1 Num Position: | bottom |
| Designated Other1 Color: |
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The Summit Playhouse is a theater in Summit, New Jersey and home to one of the oldest continuously operating amateur community theaters in the United States[2] producing a new show each calendar season.[3] In 2011, it presented Meet Me in St. Louis,[4] Closer Than Ever,[5] and Speed the Plow.[2]
The original stone Romanesque building designed by Arthur Bates Jennings was constructed in 1891 as the town's first library. A municipally-operated Summit Public Library was established in 1900, and in 1910 the library was moved to another building, leaving the Romanesque building under-utilized but still belonging to the library. In 1918, The Playhouse Association was founded as a World War I relief organization, and the theatrical group rented the empty older library from the Summit Library Association for one dollar a year for the next fifty years on condition that the group maintain the facility. In 1960, a 120-seat auditorium was added and the original 1891 structure was converted into a stage. The Summit Library Association officially deeded the building to the theater in 1968.[3]