“There are not a lot of communities that have a professional regional theater in their area. Our mission at Passage Theatre Company is to create and produce socially relevant theater that resonates with our community. We make theater for Trenton about issues that matter to Trenton, tackling current event topics and things that are in the mind of people today to specifically create community discourse and encourage conversation for social change. In that practice, we are deliberately engaging the community to have conversations and carry the themes of our plays outward.”
Brishen Miller, Executive Artistic Director of Passage Theatre Company, speaks passionately about the organization’s desire to affect social change. That mission has recently been doubly enabled by the New Jersey Economic Development Association’s A.R.T. Phase II Grant. Previously operating on an approximately $500,000 budget, the organization was awarded an additional $500,000 in grant funding from the 2025 allotment, allowing them to double their programming in an effort to affect community change.
Miller explains that this funding allows Passage Theatre to produce at the same level as peer theaters that put out three shows per season. While the grant was received in January, the application constraints stipulate that the funds must be spent before December 31st of this year. Therefore, due to the timing of the grant and Passage Theatre’s July to June fiscal year, they were able to apply the funds to four shows across two different seasons. The first two shows fell under Passage’s forty-first season and the second two shows fell under the forty-second season. The funding was utilized to increase staff hours and hire new staff, purchase new state of the art equipment (namely a new sound system), with the remainder being split amongst the three mainstage programs. Each production varies from $80,000 to $110,000, with that money being used to pay the actors, technicians, designers, and the materials to build what can become very complicated sets.
The upcoming show with the most complicated scenic design is Teen Dad, a dysfunctional family comedy written by Adrienne Dawes and directed by C. Ryanne Domingues and Richard Bradford. The show is said to “subvert popular regional theatre ‘kitchen-sink beach house dramedy’ to share a heartfelt, comedic exploration of generational trauma and recovery in a mixed-race Black and Latinx family.” As Trenton's demographic makeup reflects between 40 and 50% Black and Latinx families, this show represents the surrounding community as promised. The show will run from September 18th through October 11th.
Not only do the shows speak to the local community, but the organization also hires locally whenever opportunities arise. Miller says that “about 20% of [our] personnel are hired directly from Mercer County, and this is growing. We offer a good amount of cultural relevancy in terms of the theatre’s notoriety, and we have become appointment-viewing downtown. Very often, when Passage has a show, we are the arts anchor of Downtown Trenton, and people are driven to visit us to see shows that matter. Specifically, shows that have never been seen before.”
The development that has come from increased funding has allowed the theatre to become much more “plugged in,” so to speak. Passage Theatre has since been spotlighted by their State Assemblywoman and State Representatives. While Miller maintains that Passage already had a robust relationship with the city government, these latest upgrades have shone a light on what the organization has to offer. Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds Jackson has become a regular attendee of the theater now.
Miller acknowledges that these improvements have encouraged the community to look at Passage Theatre differently. “It has been pretty transformative. We are now looking for the next funding opportunity like this so that we can maintain this momentum.” The allure of the theater increases foot traffic in Downtown Trenton as well. It is fitting that attendees enjoy dinner and a show, providing restaurants with an influx of clientele on show nights. While Passage used to offer two Trenton premieres per season, that number has increased to three premieres and four full weekends of performances, which inevitably increases retail and restaurant business. The arts are intricately tied to the communities in which they thrive. It has been and always will be a symbiotic relationship.
“In my experience as a theater professional, these opportunities are unheard of in any other state. How well New Jersey supported the arts under the Murphy administration and continues to do so under the Sherrill administration is head and shoulders above other states, and I have worked in three other states previously. The Arts and Humanities are clearly a focus for the state of New Jersey, and the work that Passage does would not be possible without the support of this state. Without that support, the theater would have had to transform and rework our missions and be a much smaller theater. During the pandemic, we lost funders, and it was the state that made up the difference. I could not be more grateful to the State Council of the Arts and the NJEDA. I am so glad that they realize that arts and culture are a driver of the economy.”
