McCarter Theatre Center is a not-for-profit, professional company on the campus of Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. It was incorporated as a nonprofit in 1963.

Venue: McCarter Theatre
Town: Princeton, US

McCarter Theatre Center is a not-for-profit, professional company on the campus of Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. It was incorporated as a nonprofit in 1963. A two-time Tony Award winner, the McCarter's legacy traces back to the theatre's first performances in 1930. Thornton Wilder's Our Town, Kaufmann and Hart's You Can't Take It With You, and William Inge's Bus Stop all had their premieres on the McCarter stage. Built as a permanent home for the Princeton University Triangle Club (who continue to perform at McCarter) with funds from Thomas N. McCarter, class of 1888, McCarter Theatre opened on February 21, 1930, with a special performance of the 40th annual Triangle show, The Golden Dog. One of its stars was Joshua Logan, then a junior, and sophomore James Stewart was in the chorus; both went on to international fame. During the 1930s, McCarter gained popularity as a pre-Broadway showcase, due to its large seating capacity, its 40-foot proscenium stage, and its short distance from New York. Thornton Wilder's Our Town had its world premiere at McCarter, as did George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart's You Can't Take It with You, James Thurber and Elliott Nugent's The Male Animal (starring Gene Tierney), Philip Barry's Without Love (starring Katharine Hepburn) and William Inge's Bus Stop (starring Kim Stanley and Elaine Stritch). McCarter hosted the Princeton University Concerts for fifty years before they moved to Richardson Auditorium. The Philadelphia Orchestra began these concerts at McCarter in 1932, and the Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, Rudolf Serkin, Jascha Heifetz, Myra Hess, Zino Francescatti, and Gregor Piatigorsky followed, among others. The first dancer to perform there was Ruth St. Denis, who appeared in a solo evening on March 7, 1930, and returned that same fall with Ted Shawn and the full troupe of the pioneering Denishawn dancers. Few others of significance followed, except for a single performance in 1935 by the American B