Villagers Theatre was founded in 1960 by twenty people who dedicated their organization to bringing ongoing cultural enrichment to the Central New Jersey Area. For over sixty years, Villagers Theatre has been providing quality entertainment and community service to Franklin Township.
Villagers presented their first production in October of 1960 in the Van Middlesworth barn behind what is now The Stage House Tavern. By January 1961, the group swelled to over one hundred people as Villagers became involved in plays, musicals, children’s theatre, puppet shows, variety shows, playwriting and art contests. Villagers used the Van Middlesworth’s barn until 1979 when the property was sold and the building converted to commercial use.
Rather than search for a new home, Villagers (at that time lead by Ron Schapow) decided to build their own. They convinced the township to lease them a piece of swampy ground in the back corner of what would eventually become the Municipal Complex. It was on this spot that Villagers erected NJ’s first purpose-built community theater in the history of the state.
The new theater, a prefabricated metal barn, opened in 1980. This “new barn” was the Villagers home for the next seven years, until changing fire code and access laws forced Villagers to close their building. Rather than give up and move, Villagers rallied the township residents and raised over $250,000 to renovate and expand Villagers Theatre into the facility that it is today, re-opening its doors in September 1988 with a refurbished main stage auditorium that seats 215 people and a secondary black box theater that holds 100 guests.
For an archive of all of the plays, musicals and other events that have been produced by Villagers Theatre, click here.