40-Year-Old Trenton Theater Looks to the Future

(TRENTON, N.J.) — Passage Theatre Company, Trenton, N.J.’s only professional theatre organization, aims to produce socially relevant plays and programs. The company develops original works, directs arts programs, and connects with the greater city of Trenton. The production company operates in the Mill Hill playhouse, a historic church built in 1873. 

Passage Theatre began production in the building in 1985 after an initiative called the “Eyes on Trenton Arts Festival” took place, and local Trenton organizations competed to win the space. After winning and securing the spot, Passage was one of the first places to produce critically acclaimed William Mastrosimone’s play “The Undoing.” Executive Artistic Director Brishen Miller leads the company, now in its 41st season. Recently, Miller spoke with The Click to explain how he honors the company’s past while looking ahead to a creative, community-focused, artistic future. 

The Click: What does it mean to run a theater company that’s a non-profit?
Brishen Miller: The word “nonprofit” is kind of misleading for a lot of people. It does not mean we don’t make a profit. What it means is that no one profits off of Passage Theater. So, all of the money that comes into Passage has to be put back into Passage in some way. We have a volunteer board of directors of, I think, 12 members right now, and they do not receive dividends for people on the board. Our board donates every year to the company. 

It’s the nonprofit regional theater model as started by the Public Theater. Most professional theater companies outside of Broadway are going to be nonprofit. And the primary reason for that is that ticket sales alone and earned income do not generate enough to run a company for even the largest theaters. Our operations are all dictated by our mission. Our mission is to produce and create socially relevant theater that deeply resonates with our communities. We don’t pay taxes as a nonprofit, but what we do have is an accountant who goes through our finances every year to ensure that all of the dollars received are spent towards the mission. We are soliciting donations, grants and sponsorships for people who believe in the mission of bringing socially relevant theater to Trenton.

The Click: What made your 40th year of Passage Theatre special?
Miller: There was a play, “Alma,” a play by a Guatemalan playwright, Benjamin Benne. That was important to us because Trenton was, at one time, the sixth largest Guatemalan population in the world. Knowing that that is a sizable population, and that the Latino community in general is at least 40% of Trenton’s population, [we wanted] to do a play that reflected that community. But [also], “Alma” is a mother-daughter story about citizenship and immigration. It was written in 2016 when that was a pretty hot-button issue for a lot of Americans; we did not realize it would be such a big issue again. 

The Click: What’s your favorite part of running this company? What do you love about this community?
Miller: I love that Passage is a place where we create bold plays that ask hard questions. The fact that we have built an audience that hungers for those kinds of plays for 41 seasons is truly remarkable. 

This community isn’t shy about being its authentic self. We don’t pull any punches. We celebrate our strengths and actively tackle our weaknesses. There are no pretenses on what Trenton is or what Trenton may be; everybody is on the same page. Even through the harshest circumstances, we are actively moving forward collectively to create progress for all. There is a steadfast unwavering resolve to this community, and I’m happy to be here.