(DENNIS, MA – July 10, 2024) With a three-point improvement plan, The Cape Playhouse’s newly appointed artistic director Eric Rosen is reaching out to diverse communities across Cape Cod as he leads the century-old theater into what he hopes will be a new “golden age.” With Rosen taking the reins for the first time this summer, the theater shows no signs of slowing down as it nears its 100th anniversary.
This summer, the historic venue has already sold out productions of Jonathan Larson’s “tick tick… BOOM!” and Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux’s Tony nominated “Million Dollar Quartet,” with the Playhouse’s most anticipated musicals (“Beautiful” and “Waitress”) scheduled for the months to come.
Born in Asheville, North Carolina, Rosen has been immersed in theater since age 7, when his stepmother brought him to see “A Chorus Line” on Broadway.
“I remember it like it was yesterday,” Rosen said. “It was like a bolt of lightning. And I was hooked.”
Rosen lives in New York City with his husband Clayborne Elder and their 7-year-old son Clayborne “Bo.” In addition to serving as the Cape Playhouse’s artistic director, he is currently writing a musical and audiobook about the rivalry and relationship between Oscar Wilde and Bram Stoker.
Rosen’s focus is on community, activism
Rosen brings to the Playhouse lifelong experience and knowledge, having served as a transformative leader from New York City to the Midwest. Rosen’s guiding ethos is one of community care and activism. What he is most proudof in his career is his role in founding About Face Theatre in Chicago in 1995, a vanguard in producing shows centering on queer stories.
“We were taking charge of the culture in the mid-90s, in the wake of the transformation to the AIDS crisis. We were going to do something about it, and that was to make beautiful, beautiful work that told our stories,” Rosen said.
Rosen later served as the artistic director of Kansas City Repertory Theatre, stepping away in 2018 after transforming the theater into a nationally renowned incubator for Broadway stars.
As The Cape Playhouse , 820 Main St. in Dennis, nears its centenary, Rosen is applying these values with a three-pronged campaign to improve the theater. Most importantly, he said, is ensuring that the quality of the theater’s productions is world-class every time, which oxymoronically starts by shrinking the Playhouse’s summer season. In the past, new shows opened every two weeks. Instead, Rosen is tackling larger, more ambitious titles in a season with five shows ― one fewer than last year.
Off-season films, concerts at Playhouse
Rosen is also expanding the Playhouse’s programming by introducing Broadway concerts and film festivals to the campus during the off-season. “We can find performances that we can do for the people who are here at a scale that is appropriate to the population,” Rosen said.
These off-season introductions also serve as a critical piece of Rosen’s mission to grow the theater’s audience. Rosen has begun bringing in a renowned, diverse team of actors that he has become acquainted with in New York and has instantaneously seen the theater’s audience expand and shift; with this season’s “tick tick… BOOM!,” Rosen watched young people and fans of the cast join the audience. He also engaged in targeted outreach to Provincetown, high schools across the Cape, and LGBTQ+ organizations like PFLAG, ensuring that the theater welcomes people of all ages and communities.
“It’s been a passion of mine my whole career to make sure that the people on the stage look like the people in our community and our community includes some very diverse parts of the Cape that aren’t coming right now that should (be) and are welcome,” Rosen said.
Building a stronger foundation
Logistically, Rosen is working with the Cape Playhouse team to ensure that the theater has a stable foundation both financially and physically.
“The power went out on the opening day of [Million Dollar Quartet]. We lost the dress rehearsal because the power generator wasn’t sufficient,” Rosen said.
The Playhouse is undergoing modernization efforts that retain the star-studded history of the campus and founder Raymond Moore’s original mission to bring the best of theater to Cape Cod.
Why did the trustees choose Rosen?
“We are in a position in the not-too-distant future where we can ensure that theater is updated and capable of bringing literally the best of Broadway to Cape Cod, by virtue of the materials, the equipment, the facilities themselves,”Linda DeRuvo-Keegan, president of the Board of Trustees, said.
This attitude is much of what initially drew the Playhouse staff to Rosen. Though competing against highly qualified candidates, DeRuvo-Keegan recalls Rosen as an early standout.
“Many people have the ability to articulate a vision. And many people have the ability to manage a process. But it’s very rare that you find someone who is a visionary, while at the same time being able to put (it) in place… 20 minutes into conversation, I knew he could be that person,” DeRuvo-Keegan said.
Looking forward, Rosen sees the 100th anniversary in 2027 as an exciting opportunity, where people across the United States look to the Cape Playhouse as not only a stalwart of musical theater history but an expanding beacon for talent and entertainment.
“I hope that you can’t get a ticket in five years,” Rosen said.
Olivia Pozen, Contributing Writer
Cape Cod Times
