The Mirror Theater Ltd
The Mirror Theater was founded by Sabra Jones in 1983, who was also the Founding Artistic Director. The first program of the theater was the Mirror Repertory Company (MRC). Founding members of the company included Eva La Gallienne, John Strasberg, and Geraldine Page. Sabra Jones reached out to Ellis Rabb, Artistic Director of the APA Phoenix Repertory Company, John Houseman of the Mercury Theater, and Eva La Gallienne of the Civic Repertory Theatre Company. The company was intended to be "an alternating repertory company in the classic sense" of actor-manager leadership, which Rabb, Houseman, and La Gallienne pioneered. Alternating repertory refers to when one company performs a variety of plays in the same season with the same actors, which was formerly a mainstay of theater tradition. This system has been attributed with helping actors grow in their craft through a wide variety of roles. MRC was funded in its inception primarily by philanthropist Laurance S. Rockefeller, with additional donations from philanthropists and actors such as Paul Newman, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, and others.
MRC's Founder and Artistic Director, Sabra Jones, produced Eva Le Gallienne’s adaptation of “Alice in Wonderland,” directed by Le Gallienne and co-directed by John Strasberg, with Kate Burton, daughter of Richard Burton, in the title role as her Broadway debut. This production, recommended to Jones by Le Gallienne, was a staple of the Civic Repertory Company and was intended to initiate the Mirror Theater Ltd. The production was on Broadway at the Virginia Theatre, now the August Wilson, in NYC. Famed designer Patricia Zipprodt was nominated for a Tony award and Drama Desk Award for her costume designs on the “Alice in Wonderland” revival. They were exact recreations of the John Tenniel drawings for the original publication of the book Alice in Wonderland. This theme of artistic sensibility to the original art work was also carried through in the sets by famed designer John Lee Beatty. The sets and costumes were called “exquisite” by the New York Times. The production attracted great attention at the time for its financing, which marked the highest budget to that date of $2,000,000.00, but which was also backed by members of “The Four Hundred” who rarely invest in theater productions. Backers included Anthony D. Marshall, Laurance S. Rockefeller, Brooke Astor, and C. Douglas Dillon, among others. This production also marked the first time that a public television station invested in a show, WNET13, which later produced a version for television as part of PBS’s “Great Performances” series. MRC Founding Producing Artistic Director Sabra Jones brokered this deal and became Creative Consultant for the television production. In the “Great Performances” broadcast, “The White Knight” was played by Richard Burton, father of Kate Burton, the only time the two ever appeared together on film. Others in the televised production were Colleen Dewhurst, Nathan Lane, Zeljko Ivanek, Maureen Stapleton, and Eve Arden. The “Great Performances” broadcast is still available to view online.
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