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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| Coordinates | 42°38′42″N 71°18′15″W / 42.645068°N 71.304172°W |
| 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.
MRT operates under the leadership of Artistic Director Sean Daniels.
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 and John R. Briggs were the theatre's first Producing Artistic Directors.
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 (1989-2001), Charles Towers (2001-2015), 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. The theatre was named in honor of founder Nancy L. Donahue.
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