The Mirror Theater was founded by Sabra Jones in 1983, who was also the Founding Artistic Director. The first program of the theater was the Mirror Repertory Company (MRC). Founding members of the company included Eva Le Gallienne, John Strasberg, and Geraldine Page. Sabra Jones reached out to Ellis Rabb, artistic director of the APA Phoenix Repertory Company, John Houseman of the Mercury Theater, and Eva Le Gallienne of the Civic Repertory Theatre Company. The company was intended to be "an alternating repertory company in the classic sense" of actor-manager leadership, which Rabb, Houseman, and La Gallienne pioneered. Alternating repertory refers to when one company performs a variety of plays in the same season with the same actors, which was formerly a mainstay of theater tradition. This system has been attributed with helping actors grow in their craft through a wide variety of roles. MRC was funded in its inception primarily by philanthropist Laurance S. Rockefeller, with additional donations from philanthropists and actors such as Paul Newman, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, and others.
First productions
Alice in Wonderland
MRC's founder and artistic director, Sabra Jones, produced Eva Le Gallienne's adaptation of “Alice in Wonderland,” directed by Le Gallienne and co-directed by John Strasberg, with Kate Burton, daughter of Richard Burton, in the title role as her Broadway debut. This production, recommended to Jones by Le Gallienne, was a staple of the Civic Repertory Company and was intended to initiate the Mirror Theater Ltd. The production was on Broadway at the Virginia Theatre, now the August Wilson, in NYC. Designer Patricia Zipprodt was nominated for a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for her costume designs on the “Alice in Wonderland” revival. They were exact recreations of the John Tenniel drawings for the original publication of the book Alice in Wonderland. This theme of artistic sensibility to the original art work was also carried through in the sets by famed designer John Lee Beatty. The sets and costumes were called “exquisite” by the New York Times. The production attracted great attention at the time for its financing, which marked the highest budget to that date of $2,000,000.00, but which was also backed by members of “The Four Hundred” who rarely invest in theater productions. Backers included Anthony D. Marshall, Laurance S. Rockefeller, Brooke Astor, and C. Douglas Dillon, among others. This production also marked the first time that a public television station invested in a show, WNET13, which later produced a version for television as part of PBS’s “Great Performances” series. MRC Founding Producing Artistic Director Sabra Jones brokered this deal and became Creative Consultant for the television production. In the “Great Performances” broadcast, “The White Knight” was played by Richard Burton, father of Kate Burton, the only time the two ever appeared together on film. Others in the televised production were Colleen Dewhurst, Nathan Lane, Željko Ivanek, Maureen Stapleton, and Eve Arden. The “Great Performances” broadcast is still available to view online.
Sabra Jones, in her first production, had the innovative idea of asking WNET-13 for an investment in this production of a literary classic. WNET-13 invested in the production and in return received the production rights for television. This marked the first time that one non profit had invested in a commercial production for the purpose of securing income. As a result, Sabra was named a creative consultant for the film and also was responsible for securing through her star, Kate Burton, the services of Kate's famous father, Richard Burton, to play the White Knight for WNET-13. This was the only time that Kate appeared on film with her father. In the credits for the film, Sabra Jones is thanked for her assistance (along with Laurence Rockefeller, Brooke Astor, and Anthony D. Marshall).