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Miss Connections, a new comedy by Marvin Cheiten, debuted last weekend with just five performances at the Hamilton Murray Theater on the Princeton University campus. The local resonances were rich indeed — with a Princeton playwright, a contemporary Princeton setting, abundant town and campus references and distinctively Princeton issues on the agenda.
The Open Air Theatre at Washington Crossing State Park is fighting some heavy battles this summer. In addition to an overabundance of rain which washed out a number of shows, the Theatre is struggling with the Division of Parks over space rental, which, if raised to the amount recommended by the state, would preclude a number of the local theater companies from performing there. This summer the Open Air Theatre needed to demonstrate high audience figures to justify their existence to the Division of Parks. Mother Nature did not help in that regard; there were a number of rain-outs this summer, but it also was an unfortunate season for the Theatre to close its performance year with two relatively unknown shows. Last week's My Way Sinatra revue was reasonably well attended, perhaps because of familiarity with the Sinatra tunes. However, the final presentation of the Theatre, Radio Gals, is so far off the beaten track that it may have done more harm than good to the Open Air Theatre's cause.