Paper Mill Playhouse - History

History

Toward the end of the 18th century, in March 1795, Sam Campbell built a Mill on a tract of land along a brook in a town then known as Millville. He operated it for nearly 20 years until a fire ended his business. After several abandoned years, the mill changed hands many times until, in the late 1870s, Diamond Mill Paper Company took over and began making paper products until 1928.

Around the time the mill was shutting down, Antoinette Scudder, an artist and writer of poetry and plays, began a friendship with Frank Carrington, an actor and director in the theatre. They formed a partnership, discovered the vacant mill, and over several years, created a theatre on the site of the former paper mill.

Founded in 1934, Paper Mill Playhouse raised the curtain on its first performance with Gregorio Martinez Sierra’s The Kingdom of God on November 14, 1938. By the end of the first year, Carrington had coaxed entertainer Irene Castle out of retirement to make her dramatic debut in Noël Coward’s Shadow Play. The first few years featured a variety of classical and modern plays. By 1941, the Playhouse had begun to specialize in operettas, which it continued until the early 1950s.

Change marked this period in Paper Mill’s history, especially with Miss Scudder’s death in 1958. Angelo Del Rossi joined as Associate Producer in 1964, working closely with Carrington until his death in 1975. Rossi became Executive Producer. Not long after that, a fire in 1980 changed the course of the theatre, and it closed for rebuilding. On October 30, 1982, the curtain rose again.

In 1971, the New Jersey Ballet staged its first production of The Nutcracker at Paper Mill with world-renowned dancer Edward Villella in the role of the Cavalier. The Nutcracker production has been produced annually at Paper Mill since then.

In 1972, Governor of New Jersey William Cahill proclaimed Paper Mill the “Official State Theatre of New Jersey.” The theatre has been cited as a State Center of Artistic Excellence and as a Major Impact and Distinguished Arts Organization by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Through the years, Paper Mill Playhouse has welcomed such talent as Christopher Patterson, Alice Ripley, Eddie Bracken, Laura Benanti (Rising Star Award winner), Betty Buckley, Carol Channing, Kristin Chenoweth, Christine Ebersole, George S. Irving, Laurence Guittard, Anne Hathaway (Paper Mill Conservatory alumna and Rising Star Award nominee), Dee Hoty, John Mahoney, Dorothy Louden, Donna McKechnie, Ann Miller, Stephanie Mills, Liza Minnelli, Estelle Parsons, Bernadette Peters, Chita Rivera, Tony Roberts, Patrick Swayze, Karen Ziemba, Adrian Zmed, Nick Jonas (now an actor on the Disney Channel as well as an artist of the Hollywood Records label as one of the Jonas Brothers), Bailey Hanks (the winner of Legally Blonde the Musical: The Search for Elle Woods), Lynn Redgrave, and Lorna Luft.

In April 2003, Michael Gennaro, former Executive Director of Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater, joined Paper Mill as President and CEO. Paper Mill Playhouse was one of the first theatres to begin the regional theatre movement in the United States. It has grown to be one of the most acclaimed not-for-profit professional theatres in the country, and attracts more than 300,000 people annually.

On April 3, 2007, Paper Mill announced that it would need $1.5 million to open its season and an equal amount to complete its season, or it would be forced to close its doors. As of April 6, 2007, Paper Mill announced that it had received $300,000, enough to cover costs of rehearsals and preview performances for its production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

Paper Mill announced that it would have to do more well-known shows to stay in business. In May 2008, the Township of Millburn voted to purchase Paper Mill's land on Brookside Drive for 9 million dollars. They have entered into a 75-year lease with the not-for-profit theater; its operations will remain independent. Paper Mill Playhouse has gained a fresh financial start due to this deal.