Did you know that The Public Theatre’ first show, That Championship Season, was produced in a borrowed space in the Auburn mall?

The Public Theatre rents the Ritz theatre and volunteers from the entire community individually reupholster every seat in the house in time for the theatre’s opening performance of Scapin. The paint was still drying on the walls as the lights went down.

Christopher is hired as the Artistic Director. He pays his own way from New York to Maine to interview for the job and becomes the only full-time paid staff position along with a part-time technical director who designs, and builds sets and lights for every show.

During a TV interview, the host of the show publicly laughs when we tell him the theatre has gone Equity, scoffing at the feasibility of a professional theatre surviving in Lewiston.