Bucks County Playhouse is succeeding in its second act

THE BUCKS COUNTY Playhouse opened in July 1939, as a summer project of some of the biggest names in American theater history, among them author Moss Hart.

It spent the better part of three decades as one of the most celebrated venues in the nation, attracting show business giants (many before they attained such exalted status) from Harpo Marx and Helen Hayes to Alan Alda, Grace Kelly, Robert Redford and George C. Scott.

Unfortunately, that golden age was followed by a period of slow, steady decline - artistically, physically and financially - until, in 2010, the converted grist mill smack dab in the middle of New Hope was forced to shut its doors, ostensibly forever.

But later that year, a prominent (and notoriously press-shy) local couple, Kevin and Sherri Dougherty, of neighboring Doylestown, created the nonprofit Bucks County Playhouse Conservancy and reportedly funded it with a couple of million dollars. They enlisted Broadway titan Jed Bernstein, a former president of The Broadway League (composed of Broadway producers) to not only revive the legendary summer-stock house but make it a thriving, year-round operation.

Extensive renovations and improvements followed. As the reborn theater nears 14 months since its July 2012 reopening, the 475-seat Playhouse is a success - at least by Bernstein's measure.

"We made several commitments. One was to operate on a year-round basis - the playhouse had operated as sort of an extended summer theater - [and] we accomplished that," Bernstein bragged during a recent chat at the riverside landmark.

"We made a commitment to return the Playhouse to Actors Equity status," he said. "That's important, because it means the most-trained, most-professional actors are eligible to come work here and, more importantly, stars are able to come because stars are members of Actors Equity. When the Playhouse was non-Equity, they weren't able to come here."

Bringing live music back for Playhouse musical productions was another goal, "and we did that," he said as he continued to check off the "done" list:

"We made the commitment to reintroduce education programs. We revived the student-theater competition that had been here for 40-something years and which had been absent for two or three. We did that last spring and we'll do it again in spring 2014.

"We made a commitment to reintroduce plays to the repertoire. The last couple of decades it was only musical revivals. Plays, of course, were the heritage the Playhouse was built upon, so we thought it was important to mix that into the repertoire as well."

To hear Bernstein tell it, the greatest challenge has been to re-establish the venerable theater as a linchpin of community life.

"To have a playhouse that is literally in the center of town, which is unusual, it therefore has a lot of economic impact," he said. "But it has a big emotional impact, too. This community's identity was wrapped around the playhouse for years and years."

The effect of the theater's rebirth on the local zeitgeist may take some time to calibrate, but it already has proved economically beneficial to the artsy tourist destination along the banks of the Delaware River, said one local merchant.

"I think the Bucks County Playhouse has really expanded our business," offered Alexis Zanias, owner of Karla's Restaurant, directly across Main Street from the theater. "We're doing more business now between lunch and late-night dinner than we ever did before. We get a lot of people who would never come in here before. It's a different crowd, but it's very nice."

Zanias added that she wasn't alone in reaping the rewards of the revitalized Playhouse. "Everybody has been positively affected by the Playhouse," she said of her fellow business owners.

Perhaps most important of all, under Bernstein, whose Rolodex no doubt is bursting with contact info for countless theatrical A-listers, BCPH has made great strides toward regaining its status as a home for big-name talent.

"We promised that stars would come back, and even though I don't want that to be the only reason people come to the Playhouse, the fact that we've had James Earl Jones and Tyne Daly and Marsha Mason and Marilu Henner, I think, adds a lot of excitement and audience interest," Bernstein said.

Daly recently starred in the world premiere of "Mothers and Sons," by celebrated playwright Terrence McNally ("Master Class," "The Full Monty," "Catch Me if You Can"). And through Sept. 1, sitcom stalwart Henner and four-time Oscar nominee Mason are appearing in the Charles Busch comedy "The Tale of the Allergist's Wife."

The play is directed by another Broadway heavy-hitter, Tony-winning actor Boyd Gaines, who is making his directing debut.

For Henner ("Taxi," "Evening Shade"), performing there is as much a privilege as it is a job. "This playhouse is magical," she said. "It has such a special feeling.

"As soon as you see the structure, you just know. It's like Europe; people have been here before. This has that same feeling.

"You say, 'I'm walking in the footsteps of greatness' because you can feel the good ghosts - the good energy - of the actors who were here."

As such, it's no surprise that Bernstein would describe the Playhouse as "a playground for the most talented people in the theater business."

Not that he wants the venue to be just a place for the public to come and gawk at celebrities. The dreams of those involved will be fulfilled, he said, only when the Playhouse has established itself as an important emotional and sentimental part of people's lives.

"It's not all about the most famous people," he insisted. "I would like nothing better than to re-establish this idea that when the kids go away to college and they come home for Christmas, they say, 'We're going to the Playhouse like we do every year.' "