History[edit]

Long Wharf Theatre was founded by Jon Jory, Harlan Kleiman, Ruth Lord, Betty Kubler, and Newt Schenck in 1965^[1] when Arthur Miller's The Crucible opened for a two-week engagement. Named after the Long Wharf in New Haven Harbor, the theatre was built in a vacant warehouse in a food terminal. The main stage seats were borrowed from a defunct movie house. The budget for the first year was $294,000, when more than 30,000 tickets were sold.^[2]


Arvin Brown and Edgar Rosenblum led the theater for the next three decades. Doug Hughes later succeeded Brown as artistic director for four seasons. Gordon Edelstein, previously the artistic director of ACT Theatre in Seattle for five years, became Long Wharf's artistic director on July 1, 2002; he had been Long Wharf's associate artistic director intermittently before.^[3] Gordon Edelstein was fired by Long Wharf's board in January 2018 because of accusations of sexual misconduct.^[4] After a search process Jacob G. Padrón became the new artistic director in November 2018.^[5] Joan Channick was managing director from 2006 to 2009.^[6] Ray Cullom succeeded her as managing director for two seasons, and restored fiscal stability after several years of severe shortfalls.^[2] Joshua Borenstein took over in 2011 and Kit Ingui replaced him in 2019.^[7]


More than 30 Long Wharf productions have been transferred to Broadway or Off-Broadway, including Durango, Wit (winner of a Pulitzer Prize), The Shadow Box (Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award/Best Play winner), Hughie, American Buffalo, Requiem for a Heavyweight, Quartermaine's Terms (Obie Award winner for best play), The Gin Game (Pulitzer Prize winner), The Changing Room, The Contractor, I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, Satchmo at the Waldorf, and Streamers.^[2]