PLAYS-In-The-PARK

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Middlesex County's Plays-in-the-Park
is a unique partnership representing
more than 46 years of unparalleled
government initiative,
artistic excellence,
and community spirit.
Forty-three years ago, a small group
of devoted community theater volunteers
enthusiastically sought a place to produce
plays during the summer months.
They contacted the Middlesex County
Board of Chosen Freeholders
hoping to find financial support.

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Although funds did not exist for
construction of a new theater building,
money was budgeted for a storage shed.
A creative compromise was reached,
allowing the shed to be used as a theater
in the summer and for storage in the winter.
A tree-lined grove in Roosevelt Park
was chosen as the site and
Plays-in-the-Park officially opened in 1963.
Popularity grew, and eventually the shed
became a permanent home with an addition
of a scenic shop and dressing rooms.
Attendance soared and by the mid-1970's.
More than 150,000 people came to
the free theater each year, making
Plays-in-the-Park an important part
of summer in Middlesex County.

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All seemed lost, however, when on
July 24, 1975, a fire in an adjacent
garbage can destroyed the
wooden building, burning it
to its concrete foundation.
But theatrical tradition demands
that 'the show must go on'
(in this case "Man of La Mancha").
Work began the very next day.
Mobile trailers were brought in to finish
the 1975 season.
Eventually County funds were met by
dollars from the Green Acres Commission
and the new Roosevelt Park Amphitheater
opened in 1978.

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