Recreation board weighs safety issues at outdoor amphitheater.
By: David Campbell
The Princeton Repertory Company’s Shakespeare Festival drew about 12,000 attendees to the amphitheater of Pettoranello Gardens in the summer of 2000.
The company’s two-month season offered starlit performances of "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" and "The Taming of the Shrew" free to the public, and garnered positive reviews statewide as well as national press coverage in USA Today.
But the festival’s huge success raised some safety concerns with the Princeton Joint Recreation Board, among them worries that the 450-seat amphitheater at Community Park North was inadequate to handle the record crowds, as were the parking and the storage and electrical facilities at the site.
Despite efforts by the repertory company to address the board’s concerns and by the board to accommodate the regional event, a compromise was not reached in time for the 2001 summer season and the festival was not held.
Now, both parties are talking again in the hope Shakespeare can return this summer, and on Feb. 4 they will meet to discuss a contract agreement that could make it happen.
On Thursday night, speaking before the board, repertory Artistic Director Victoria Liberatori implored members, saying, "If you have any kind of interest in this festival as a cultural asset to this community, you cannot allow us to go dark another season. The festival cannot survive another summer being dark."
Ms. Liberatori said Monday she has since received word from at least one recreation board member indicating the contract negotiations "will proceed in a positive tone and there is a definite possibility things could work out here," but she said she could not elaborate for fear of jeopardizing the talks.
At issue is the duration of the season and the size of audiences the board will permit, issues that repertory Executive Producer Anne Reiss, who co-founded the Shakespeare festival with Ms. Liberatori in 1995, said must be resolved before a season can be announced and the necessary sponsorship can be sought.
The repertory company would like to see this summer’s festival modeled on the 2000 season, with two plays performed over an eight- to 10-week period, but board members have said that might not be possible.
Princeton Township plans to repave and rebuild Mountain Avenue at Route 206 this summer when school buses are not running, which could hamper the festival because the township wants to use some parking at Community Park North to stage construction vehicles.
In addition, the recreation board told festival representatives Thursday it intends to solicit other Princeton-based performing groups to use the amphitheater.
"The recreation board is about offering services to Princeton citizens," said Princeton Recreation Director Jack Roberts. "The repertory company is looking for a regional home to accommodate Shakespeare on a regional basis, and we don’t think the amphitheater is big enough to accommodate that, nor is it our purview to accommodate people who come from out of town."
Nevertheless, Mr. Roberts continued, the board wants to work with the Shakespeare company and will seek construction bids in about a month for safety upgrades to the amphitheater by June.
Upgrades include improved electrical service at the amphitheater so that extension wires do not have to be run above ground as they were in 2000; increased lighting in the performance area and along pathways leading into the park; and a new concrete foundation for sound-mixing equipment.
The repertory company for its part has addressed some parking problems by securing permission to use lots off Route 206 at Fleet Bank and the nearby strip mall, and by arranging for "Shakespeare Shuttles" from Palmer Square.
Mr. Roberts said the amphitheater’s seating capacity will not be increased because of the additional parking shortage it would cause, and because a feasibility study released in December indicates the current seating is deteriorating, which means no new seating can be built until a complete renovation of existing facilities is done.