THE PUBLIC THEATRE

The Public Theatre is a professional theater located in the historic Ritz Theater building at 31 Maple Street in downtown Lewiston. The company holds a contract with Actors' Equity Association, making it one of only a handful of Equity theaters in Maine. It operates in an intimate space within the former movie house.

Each season the company produces six to eight productions playing to an audience of over 17,000 people. Programming features plays and actors from Broadway and beyond at affordable prices. The intimate setting places audiences close to the action in a venue converted from its original movie house configuration.

The Public Theatre was founded in 1991 by a group of citizens dedicated to bringing professional theater to Central Maine. Its first season featured two plays in a borrowed space at the Auburn Mall. In 1992, the company moved into the former Ritz Theater — a movie house that originally opened on January 30, 1940 with 800 seats. Author Stephen King reportedly attended films there as a child. The Public Theatre purchased the building in 1998 after raising over $100,000 in three months.