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Our History
While the Theater would like to claim lineage going all the way back to 1916, in fact, we can only go that far in spirit and admiration. The humble company that would eventually come to inaugurate our space at 238 Bradford Street first convened in March 1963.
Note: The following information has been primarily gleaned from David W. Dunlap’s Building Provincetown 2020, an online project and accompanying book in which he attempts to chronicle the history of nearly every address in Provincetown. We are grateful to Mr. Dunlap for his careful research and generous support.
For more information on the history of our home at 238 Bradford Street, click HERE.
Organizational Roots
(1963 – 1982)
While the Theater would like to claim lineage going all the way back to 1916, in fact, we can only go that far in spirit and admiration. The humble company that would eventually come to inaugurate our space at 238 Bradford Street first convened in March 1963 as the Provincetown Theater Workshop and included Ray & Nicky Wells, Carl & Constance Black, Moe van Dereck, Jim Forsberg, and Ciro & Sal’s owner Ciro Cozzi, among others. For their first season, they presented Constance Black’s Circles in the Snow and Anton Chekhov’s The Anniversary in the parish hall of the Church of St. Mary of the Harbor – a site that today is, curiously, mere seconds away from where our theater now stands.
The Workshop, which became the Provincetown Theater Company in 1973, quickly adapted to a guerrilla existence – navigating varied spaces in town such as the Provincetown Art Association, Town Hall, the Crown & Anchor, and even Piggy’s (a dance bar), all while performing roughly three types of plays: gems by Provincetown favorites (such as O’Neill, Glaspell, and Williams), new works by daring dramatists of the day (such as Albee, Orton, and Shepard), and plays by local writers within the company with stories of their own to tell. Among the many highlights from these years include productions of Peter Weiss’s Marat/Sade (1972), Lanford Wilson’s Hot l Baltimore (1977) and Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire (1982).
1980s
In 1988, after 25 years of producing plays, the Company began to expand its vision. Michael Prevulsky was hired as the PTC’s first Artistic Director and the Company found a home at the Provincetown Inn. Under Prevulsky’s leadership, the PTC entered an enormous period of productivity, mounting over 25 shows in 3 years including works by Albee, Stoppard, McNally, Shakespeare, Moliere, and O’Neill.
Early 1990s
Unfortunately, by the early ‘90s, AIDS’s presence was now felt everywhere, and already an incalculable toll had been taken on the Provincetown community. Like so many other working artists of that time, Prevulsky succumbed to the disease in 1992. The next year, to commemorate him and the many thousands of untimely deaths nationwide, the Company staged one of its most popular works in decades: Bill Russell’s AIDS Quilt Memorial musical Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens, which provided a much-needed catharsis to the grieving queer community.
The PTC managed to stay afloat over the next few years, but it wasn’t until 1996 that a new Artistic Director could be found: Roger Cacchiotti steered the company through three seasons in the late ‘90s before parting ways.
Mid 1990s
While the PTC was reeling from the experience of so much loss, the lack of theater offerings in town left a sizable artistic vacuum. Enter Kenneth Hoyt who, along with Joan and J. Anton Schiffenhaus, created a new company not attempting to replace the PTC but rather complement it. In 1995, the Provincetown Repertory Theatre (REP) made its debut at Town Hall with Joe Pintauro’s one-act collection For Heaven’s Sake. The REP had an Equity agreement, hired union actors, and sought to produce professional summer stock with a touch more polish than the usual local fare. Their programming was a combination of contemporary plays (often by queer playwrights) along with Provincetown standards and, to aid in their mission, they also set out to finance the construction of their very own theater. The REP’s original plan for a 300-seat venue on the grounds of the Pilgrim Monument never materialized, but the dream for a space of their own lived on.
Throughout the ’90s the REP found success with stagings of works by Joe Pintauro, Paula Vogel, Craig Lucas, and most notably, works by Eugene O’Neill and Lillian Hellman directed by storied O’Neill interpreter José Quintero. It’s also worth noting that the eccentric, macabre illustrator Edward Gorey collaborated with the REP on his “musicale” The Gorey Details, which later had a successful Off-Broadway run (Gorey had also collaborated with the PTC in the early ‘90s on three separate play adaptations of his work). The REP likewise cultivated a strong relationship with Norman & Norris Church Mailer. Several high-profile fundraiser readings were held featuring Norman & Norris Church, children John Buffalo & Stephen, and even Norman’s notorious onetime foe, Gore Vidal.
Early 2000s
Ken Hoyt parted ways with the REP in 2002, and Norris Church Mailer stepped in as a brief replacement. But before Hoyt’s departure, in 2001, the REP and the PTC came to a mutual agreement to find a collective home to nourish both itinerant companies. The Provincetown Theater Foundation (PTF) was formed to oversee and accomplish this goal. Alix Ritchie, a longtime supporter and Board member of the PTC, became the Foundation’s first Board President. After about a year of searching, the Provincetown Mechanics building (formerly a Ford dealership) on Bradford came up for sale in 2002, and, supported by the David Adam Schoolman Trust, the property was bought and a nine-month renovation began in September 2003.
A Theater of One’s Own (2004-2008)
The Provincetown Theater, the first fully operational performance space in Provincetown since the Provincetown Playhouse was destroyed in 1977, opened on June 22, 2004. Its inaugural production, The Direct Line Play, was directed by the Tony Award-winning actress Phyllis Newman, was presented by the REP under the artistic direction of Lynda Sturner, and was written by over 25 major American playwrights including Terrence McNally, Douglas Carter Beane, Charles Busch, Christopher Durang, Eve Ensler, Harvey Fierstein, A. R. Gurney, David Henry Hwang, Wendy Kesselman, Shirley Lauro, Marsha Norman, Joe Pintauro, David Rabe, Sarah Ruhl, Diana Son, Lynda Sturner, Wendy Wasserstein, and Lanford Wilson.
In late 2005, the two companies decided to further pool their resources and merge into one organizational unit, the New Provincetown Players, with Guy Wolf serving as Producing Director. But fiscal shortfalls plagued the institution, and by 2008 the Theater was in financial disrepair and forced to lay off all full-time staff. It would be nearly ten years before a new Artistic Director would be found.
2009-2016
From the late ‘00s until the late ‘10s, the PTF Board, now led by President Tim McCarthy, opted to keep internal costs down by leasing the Theater’s stage to emerging theatrical troupes looking to have a stable performance venue on which to perform during the crowded summer months. Counter Productions (led by Susan Grilli), the Gold Dust Orphans (led by Ryan Landry & Scott Martino), and Peregrine Theatre Ensemble (led by Adam & Ben Berry) each presented major productions at the Theater including classic & contemporary plays, musicals, drag shows, and musical revues. CTEK Arts, another outside co-producer, had a hit with a 2010 production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, directed by actor, writer, and director David Drake. As a guest director, Drake would return to the Theater to direct Slap & Tickle (2010), The Weight of Water (2011), The Divine Sister (2012), The Gift (2015), and The Importance of Being Earnest (2016).
In 2016, after several years of operating as a rental house, the Board of the PTF gained several new members (including current President David Wilson) and Tristan DiVincenzo was hired as Artistic Director. DiVincenzo led the Theater through two seasons before a mutually-agreed upon parting of ways.
2017 - present
In late 2017, David Drake was hired as Artistic Director. Along with an increasingly committed Board, Drake has solidified a vision of the Provincetown Theater as a year-round, community-oriented space committed to reinterpreting American classics in addition to developing new works by playwrights near and far. Drake has also overseen the establishment of the Provincetown American Playwright Award (PAPA), an annual prize and accompanying fundraiser for distinguished playwrights, and the Stephen Mindich Literary Project, which funds free readings of plays by emerging writers as well as an annual playwright residency program for a rising female playwright.
In 2020, like all theaters worldwide, the Provincetown Theater’s stage remained dark in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But, in place of a conventional season, an audacious virtual season was planned and implemented including two variety shows showcasing community members, a screening of a benefit production of Drake’s own The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me, and even an original short film created just for Halloween. The Theater made a commitment to keep our quarantined neighbors entertained and moved and, in turn, they have kept us afloat through their donations, grants, and endless positivity.
We are proud of our long, turbulent, yet exhilarating history and will continue to pursue art, entertainment, and community on behalf of the singular residents of Outer Cape Cod.
Production History
Below is a record of productions dating back to 1963 from the Provincetown Theatre Workshop, Provincetown Theatre Company, Provincetown Repertory Theater, and The Provincetown Theater.
1963-1964
Circles in the Snow (Constance Black)
The Anniversary (Anton Chekhov)
Where Did Roger Go? (Carl Black)
Transition (Jim Forsberg)
1965-1966
Chekhov, Albee, Pinter: Two One-Act Plays and a Soliloquy: The American Dream, The Harmfulness of Tobacco, and The Collection (Anton Chekhov, Edward Albee & Harold Pinter)
What Do You Do in Provincetown in the Winter?
1966-1967
The Private Potato Patch of Greta Garbo (J. Roy Sullivan)
What Do You Do in Provincetown in the Winter?
Sprucy Earns His Star
1965-1966
Chekhov, Albee, Pinter: Two One-Act Plays and a Soliloquy: The American Dream, The Harmfulness of Tobacco, and The Collection (Anton Chekhov, Edward Albee & Harold Pinter)
What Do You Do in Provincetown in the Winter?
1967-1968
String, Too Short to Save
Three French Plays: Humulus the Mute, One War for Another, and The Painting (Jean Anouilh & Jean Aurenche, Jean Tardieu & Eugene Ionesco)
The Moon Doesn’t Care
Evening Light
The Withering
1968-1969
Fireman, Save My Child! (Ned Albert)
Three One-Acts: Hello from Bertha, The Lady of Larkspur Lotion, and The Dumb Waiter (Tennessee Williams & Harold Pinter)
1969-1970
A Pound on Demand (Sean O’Casey)
Sorry, Wrong Number (Lucille Fletcher)
The Apollo of Bellac (Jean Giraudoux)
1971-1972
The Collection (Harold Pinter)
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (Paul Zindel)
The Madness of Lady Bright (Lanford Wilson)
Marat/Sade (Peter Weiss)
1972-1973
Peter Pan (J.M. Barrie)
The Bald Soprano (Eugene Ionesco)
1973-1974
The Balcony (Jean Genet)
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (Tom Stoppard)
The Man Who Came to Dinner (George S. Kaufman & Moss Hart)
Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll)
1974-1975
The Killing of Sister George (Frank Marcus)
The Threepenny Opera (Bertolt Brecht & Kurt Weill)
1975-1976
The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window (Lorraine Hansberry)
The Life of Lady Godiva
Promenade (Al Carmines & Maria Irene Fornes)
1976-1977
A Thousand Clowns (Herb Gardner)
Bluebeard (Charles Ludlam)
Approaching Simone (Megan Terry)
1977-1978
The Hot l Baltimore (Lanford Wilson)
Cabaret (Joe Masteroff, John Kander & Fred Ebb)
The Black and White & Trouble in the Works (Harold Pinter)
1978-1979
Bus Stop (William Inge)
Chamber Music (Arthur Kopit)
Snapshots (Ralph Fredericks)
The Dumb Waiter & Last to Go (Harold Pinter)
Eva Braun (Charles Horne & James Bennett)
The Richest Girl in the World Finds Happiness (Robert Patrick, Charles Horne & James Bennett)
1979-1980
Happy Birthday, Wanda June (Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.)
1980-1981
Endgame (Samuel Beckett)
A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)
Beyond the Revolt of Mamie Stover (Doug Best)
Enter a Free Man (Tom Stoppard)
1981-1982
November Twice
Electra (Hugo von Hofmannstall)
Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck)
Horizon Lines (Deb Millar)
1982-1983
The Importance of Being Earnest (Oscar Wilde)
Play It Again, Sam (Woody Allen)
A Streetcar Named Desire (Tennessee Williams)
Bell, Book and Candle (John Van Druten)
1983-1984
The Shadow Box (Michael Cristofer)
The Glass Menagerie (Tennessee Williams)
Popcorn Super Bowl
The School for Scandal (Richard Brinsley Sheridan)
Deathtrap (Ira Levin)
1984-1985
A Provincetown Evening: Trifles, Something Unspoken, and The Unforgiving (Susan Glaspell, Tennessee Williams & Frederic Glover)
True West (Sam Shepard)
A Thurber Carnival (James Thurber)
1985-1986
La Ronde (Arthur Schnitzler)
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Stephen Sondheim, Burt Shevelove & Larry Gelbart)
The Night of the Iguana (Tennessee Williams)
The Mirror Darkens (Frederic Glover)
1986-1987
What the Butler Saw (Joe Orton)
The Dining Room (A. R. Gurney)
1987-1988
The Dresser (Ronald Harwood)
Celebration (Harold Pinter)
Three by Tennessee: Hello from Bertha, Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen, and 27 Wagons Full of Cotton (Tennessee Williams)
1988-1989
Execution of Justice (with Provincetown Theatre Works) (Emily Mann)
• Staying Together (Ron Weissenberger)
The Real Thing (Tom Stoppard)
Noises Off (Michael Frayn)
Seascape (Edward Albee)
Keepers (Candace Perry)
Larry, Queen of Scots (Norman R. Allen)
1989-1990
Dracula (Bram Stoker)
Nova Nino (David Matias)
Seascape With Sharks and Dancer (Don Nigro)
Burn This (Lanford Wilson)
Viva Cummings (with the Blue Heron Theatre of New York) (e.e. cummings)
Useful Urns (Edward Gorey)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (William Shakespeare)
Beirut (Alan Bowne)
The Lisbon Traviata (Terrence McNally)
1990-1991
Thalassa, My Heart (Sinan Unel)
Eugene O’Neill: Dancing With the Devil (Eugene O’Neill)
3 x Moliere (Moliere)
Flapping Ankles (Edward Gorey)
Damnee Manon, Sacree Sandra (Michel Tremblay)
Beirut (Alan Bowne)
Not About Heroes (Stephen MacDonald)
The Lion in Winter (James Goldman)
1991-1992
Here to Stay (Norman R. Allen)
Shirley Valentine (Willy Russell)
Under Milkwood (Tennessee Willliams)
The Three of Cups (Sinan Unel)
The Art of Dining (Tina Howe)
Crazed Teacups (Edward Gorey)
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Edward Albee)
1992-1993
Pippin (Stephen Schwarz & Roger O. Hirson)
Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens (Janet Hood & Bill Russell)
Fifth of July (Lanford Wilson)
The Lost Gospels of Blankenburg (Sinan Unel)
1993-1994
A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)
1994-1995
A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)
The Day They Shot John Lennon (James McLure)
1995-1996
Clit Notes (Holly Hughes)
A Madperson’s Chronicle of a Miserable Marriage (Sinan Unel)
Not Smart (Wilbur Daniel Steele)
Bound East for Cardiff (Eugene O’Neill 80th Anniversary production)
Agnes of God (John Pielmeier)
Three Hotels (Tennessee Williams)
For Heaven’s Sake (Joe Pintauro)
1996-1997
The Dumb Waiter (Harold Pinter)
Cute Boys in Their Underpants Fight the Evil Trolls (Robert Coles)
Something Cloudy, Something Clear (Tennessee Williams)
Seascape (Edward Albee)
Men’s Lives (Joe Pintauro)
O’Neill 80: Ile and The Long Voyage Home (Eugene O’Neill, dir. José Quintero)
1997-1998
Amahl and the Night Visitors (Gian Carlo Menotti)
The Hot l Baltimore (Lanford Wilson)
The Tranny Chase (Linda Simpson)
The Forest of John the Fox (Fran DeVasto)
Message to Michael (Tim Pinckney)
Picasso at the Lapin Agile (Steve Martin)
Sand: A Trio of Works by Edward Albee
Lonely Planet (Steven Dietz)
The Children’s Hour (Lillian Hellman, dir. José Quintero)
The Mineola Twins (Paula Vogel)
Another American (Marc Wolf)
Hughie (Eugene O’Neill)
1999
Return to Bountiful (Horton Foote, dir. Ken Hoyt)
The Glass Menagerie (Tennessee Williams)
The Gorey Details (Edward Gorey)
2000
How I Learned to Drive (Paula Vogel)
The Real Sophia (Meryl Cohn)
Men’s Lives (Joe Pintauro)
Queer Studies (Craig Lucas, dir. Ken Hoyt)
2001
The Best of All Possible Worlds (Guy Wolf)
The Women (Clare Booth Luce)
Pterodactyls (Nicky Silver)
Art Brut (Love and Death and Isabella Stewart Gardner, The Victim Art Show)
Zelda, Scott and Ernest (George Plimpton & Terry Quinn)
2002
Funny, Sexy, Smart (Meryl Cohn)
2003
Hair (Gerome Ragni, James Rado & Galt MacDermot)
Almost Home (Meryl Cohn)
The Wound of Love (Katherine Grant)
Master Class (Terrence McNally)
Summer Shorts: Dopes, First Night, The Confession (Steve Monroe)
2004
The House of Blue Leaves (John Guare)
Ask Andrea Anything (Meryl Cohn)
The Direct Line Play (ed. Lynda Sturner)
As Bees in Honey Drown (Douglas Carter Beane)
The Mystery of Irma Vep (Charles Ludlam)
Endgame (Samuel Beckett, dir. Andre Gregory)
2005
Bat Boy: The Musical (Keythe Farley, Brian Flemming & Laurence O’Keefe)
The Baltimore Waltz (Paula Vogel)
And Sophie Comes Too (Meryl Cohn)
Crazy Eyes (John Buffalo Mailer)
A Girl Called Dusty (Susann Fletcher)
The End (George Furth)
2006
Streakin’ (James A. Rocco & Albert Evans)
Camille (Charles Ludlam)
Lover, Liar, Lady, Whore: The Women of Kander and Ebb Naked with Fruit (Meryl Cohn)
Times Square Angel (Charles Busch)
2007
The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? (Edward Albee)
Forever Plaid (Stuart Ross)
Much Ado About Nothing (William Shakespeare)
Parade (Tennessee Williams)
Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill (Lanie Robertson)
Reasons to Live (Meryl Cohn)
Copenhagen (Michael Frayn) [Counter Productions]
Times Square Angel (Charles Busch)
2008
Doubt (John Patrick Shanley) [Counter Productions]
Kimberly Akimbo (David Lindsay-Abaire) [Counter Productions]
Anna in the Tropics (Nilo Cruz) [Counter Productions]
60 Years with Bruhs and Gean (Tom Wilson) [Counter Productions]
The Siegels of Montauk (Meryl Cohn) [Counter Productions]
Souvenir (Stephen Temperley) [Counter Productions]
Tick, Tick… Boom! (Jonathan Larson) [Counter Productions]
The Wild Party (Andrew Lippa) [CTEK Arts]
The Full Monty (Terrence McNally & David Yazbek) [Counter Productions]
2009
Philadelphia, Here I Come! (Brian Friel) [Counter Productions]
Wonder of the World (David Lindsay-Abaire) [Counter Productions]
The Effect of Gamma Ray on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (Paul Zindel) [Counter Productions]
Wit (Margaret Edson) [Counter Productions]
Take Me Out (Richard Greenberg) [Counter Productions]
Working (Stephen Schwarz et al)
Gross Indecency (Moisés Kaufman & the Tectonic Theater Project) [Counter Productions]
2010
Feel the Bend
Edward II (Christopher Marlowe)
Our Town (Thornton Wilder, dir. David Drake) [CTEK Arts]
Fully Committed (Becky Mode)
Slap & Tickle (David Parr, dir. David Drake)
Derin Brockovich – The Musical (Michael Sottile)
2011
‘Art’ (Yasmina Reza)
The Odd Couple: Female Version (Neil Simon)
The Merry Wives of Windsor (William Shakespeare)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (John Cameron Mitchell) [Zany Hijinx Productions]
The Food Chain (Nicky Silver)
The Weight of Water (Myra Slotnick, dir. David Drake)
2012
A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum (Stephen Sondheim, Burt Shevelove & Larry Gelbart)
The Divine Sister (Charles Busch, dir. David Drake) [The Three Graces]
Mary Poppers (Ryan Landry) [Gold Dust Orphans]
Reasons to Live (Meryl Cohn)
2013
God of Carnage (Yasmina Reza)
The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife (Charles Busch)
The Normal Heart (Larry Kramer)
Pornocchio (Ryan Landry) [Gold Dust Orphans]
Kingdom of Earth (Tennessee Williams) [with the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival]
Across the Pond (Zoe Lewis)
Oliver! (Charles Dickens & Lionel Bart)
2014
Bent (Martin Sherman)
A Perfect Ganesh (Terrence McNally)
Hamlet (William Shakespeare) [Peregrine Theatre Ensemble]
Snow White and the Seven Bottoms (Ryan Landry) [Gold Dust Orphans]
Rent (Jonathan Larson) [Peregrine Theatre Ensemble]
Venus in Fur (David Ives) [CTEK Arts]
Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll, adapted by Bragan Thomas)
Gun Control: the Musical (Jay Critchley)
2015
The Gift (Steve Lyons, dir. David Drake) [Loramers Productions]
Waiting for Lefty (Clifford Odets)
Lonely Planet (Steven Dietz)
Thoroughly Muslim Millie (Ryan Landry) [Gold Dust Orphans]
Oleanna (David Mamet)
The Verge (Susan Glaspell)
A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens) [Peregrine Theatre Ensemble]
2016
Happy Days (Samuel Beckett)
The Dresser (Ronald Harwood)
Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights (Gertrude Stein)
The Importance of Being Earnest (Oscar Wilde, dir. David Drake)
The Maids (Jean Genet)
The Little Dog Laughed (Douglas Carter Beane) [Peregrine Theatre Ensemble]
The Full Monty (Terrence McNally & Doug Yazbek [Peregrine Theatre Ensemble]
Souvenir (Stephen Temperley) [Cotuit Center for the Arts]
Buyer & Cellar (Jonathan Tolins) [Peregrine Theatre Ensemble]
Dracula for Dummys (Bram Stoker, adapt. DiVincenzo)
2017
Salome (Oscar Wilde)
Amadeus (Peter Shaffer)
• Frankenstein (Mary Shelley, adapt. DiVicenzo)
Hopper’s Ghosts (Kevin Rice)
2018
You Can’t Take It With You (George S. Kaufman & Moss Hart)
4-Star Solo Show Festival (Migguel Anggelo, Nora Burns, Chris Harder & Liza Lott)
Love! Valour! Compassion! (Terrence McNally)
The Laramie Project (Moisés Kaufman & the Tectonic Theater Project)
Always…Patsy Cline (Ted Swindley)
2019
August: Osage County (Tracy Letts)
4-Star Solo Show Festival (Mike Albo, Marga Gomez, David Mixner & Donald C. Shorter, Jr.)
Sweeney Todd (Stephen Sondheim & Hugh Wheeler)
The Lady Aoi (Yukio Mishima) [with the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival]
It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (Joe Landry)
2020
No mainstage productions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021
Neptune (Timothy DuWhite)
The Cake (Bekah Brunstetter)
The Glass Menagerie (Tennessee Williams)
2022
The Drag (Mae West)
The Lady Hamlet (Sarah Schulman)
Jerker (Robert Chesley)
The Humans (Stephen Karam)
Tiny Beautiful Things (Adapted for the stage by Nia Vardalos based upon Cheryl Strayed’s bestselling memoir)
2023
Casa Valentina (Harvey Fierstein)
The Fantasticks (Tom Jones & Harvey Schmidt)
Another Medea (Aaron Mark)
What the Constitution Means to Me (Heidi Schreck)
