TWENTY-FIRST ANNIVERSARY SEASON!

Phone: 973-875-2950       E-mail: Tri-State!

  
WELCOME TO TRI-STATE   Located in stunning northwest New Jersey, the "Garden" of the "Garden State," Tri-State Actors Theater has reached an audience of thousands through the years, presenting the highest level productions in our region. 
   Founded in 1988 by Paul Meacham with a small grant from the Sussex County Arts and Heritage Council/NJ State Council on the Arts, Ranger Repertory Summer Theater, as Tri-State Actors Theater was called originally, began as a theater that specialized in training young
 View of Main Street from Tri-State Balcony     performers and presenting plays for children and families.  Now a full-fledged regional professional theatre company, Tri-State's accomplishments have been born out of its  staff and artists' long experience, dedication to its goals, and constant attention to the details of craftsmanship, needs of its artists, and awareness of its place in the community of the tri-state region.
      Our audience development has reached out beyond  the borders of New Jersey into neighboring states through tours to small communities who ask us to bring live theater to their halls and auditoriums, through personal contacts beyond our stages, and through our local media. In addition, the Tri-State staff has developed critical contacts with challenged communities and potential patrons through our educational outreach and marketing. Surveys show that we have developed an audience who have attended our theater repeatedly during its twenty-one seasons, and that first-time patrons desire to return in subsequent seasons.  We will continue to reach out to the many communities in our region.

     OUR MISSION One of our three goals has always been to develop a permanent audience for drama in our region, and children's plays are one sure way to establish theater as a positive experience for children who may have never experienced live performance before.

     YOUTH INTERN TRAINING PROGRAM   Children's theater also offered the possibility for training young people as actors and technicians in presentations with high production values and the possibility of interns performing roles rather than serving merely as "spear-carriers" for more experienced performers.    Our intern program has trained over 270 young performers and technicians, many of whom have  continued their pursuit of theater in university, conservatory, or in the profession.    Our youth interns work with and are trained by true professionals;  actors, singers and dancers who have performed professionally throughout the country. these seasoned veterans serve as our choreographers  and  Music Directors.  Paul Meacham, Equity actor and director for over 35 years, founder of Tri-State Actors Theater, serves as  director-teacher for the Youth Theater.  The development of our youth company leads to greater out-reach education and enjoyment through the productions the company performs.  Over our first 21 seasons we have produced such fine children's classics as CHARLOTTE'S WEB, THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS, THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES, THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER, SKUPPER DUPPERS, WINNIE THE POOH, TARRADIDDLE TRAVELS,  STUART LITTLE and THE LITTLE MERMAID. Several of our Youth Companies have toured to
communities in Sussex County and Pennsylvania.

MORE PROGRAMS FOR YOUNG and OLD   In addition to our summer Youth Intern Theater program, Tri-State's schools curricula-related play selections allow hundreds of students  each season to see professional productions of plays which are part of the schools' studies relating to world literature, history, diversity, and other disciplines. Begun in 2003, our schools-related offerings have included TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, Tennessee Williams' A STREETCAR--NAMED--DESIRE and THE GLASS MENAGERIE,-William Shakespeare's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM and TWELFTH NIGHT, Arthur Miller's THE PRICE, and Charles Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL. As many as five student matinees are incorporated into our schedule for each presentation. Our education out-reach also includes staff and artists' visits to schools and theater classes for children, teens and adults. Our students are taught basic and advanced acting techniques and are instilled with knowledge and insight into the inner workings of theater art. Students with Tri-State have often gone on to advanced theater studies, work in films, and successful careers in many fields.  Tri-State Actors Theater also encourages young people to become involved with the workings of the theater through schools' "Community Service Requirements."

NEW PLAYS READING SERIES  Since 2000, Tri-State has encouraged  playwrights to submit new, un-produced scripts  to our NEW PLAYS READING SERIES. Knowing that new writing is the life-blood of theater, we rehearse and perform in concert and staged readings at least four new and untried plays every season  so that the playwrights can "hear" their works read and performed by professional artists. Our patrons relish the notion of helping writers find just the right "note" to play in these new works, and do not hesitate to criticize and suggest what needs to be revised and what is good about these new pieces. Indeed, several of our new play readings have become new play productions in subsequent seasons, including Tevia Abrams' ERICA'S LAST MISSION, Judylee Oliva's ON THE SHOWROOM FLOOR, and Sean O'Leary's RAIN IN THE HOLLOWS.

OUR TWENTY-ONE SEASONS  As we continue to celebrate our 21st anniversary as one of the Tri-State's leading cultural institutions, the memories of those seasons brings with them a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment in the service of our art and our community.
     Nearly one hundred professional actors, designers, directors and other theater artists have worked with Tri-State over the years. One goal of our mission is to present entertaining and finished professional productions of plays for the children and adults of our regional community.  From 1988 to the present, Tri-State has endeavored to present entertaining--ALWAYS...PATSY-CLINE--provocative--Edward Albee's THREE TALL WOMEN--romantic--I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW  CHANGE--hysterically funny --THE COMPLEAT WKS of WM SHKSPR, abrg'd --challenging--THE-WEIR--classic(&--funny)--TWELFTH NIGHT--and ridiculous--THE BIG BANG--productions, all for our audiences' pleasure. We strive to bring you a diverse and exciting season year after year, and your continued and growing support signals that we are doing something right!
        2007's TWELFTH NIGHT
 THE CRESCENT THEATER Now with a permanent home at the historic Crescent Theater in arts-minded Sussex, NJ, we perform ten months of the year, offering our audiences outstanding professional productions of comedy, drama, musicals, and children's theater. In our  sixth season in Sussex, and our  twenty-first since our founding, Tri-State has presented over 45 productions for its adult audience, 27 productions for children, and over 30 readings of new scripts.