At a challenging time for theater, Cape May Stage finds a winning formula

Cape May Stage producing artistic director Roy Steinberg, outside the Robert Shackleton Playhouse.

There are times when someone will ask Roy Steinberg what he does for a living. “I run a theater in Cape May,” he’ll say. Then, more often than he’d care to admit, the response will be: “There’s a theater in Cape May?”

Yes, there is a theater in Cape May. A quite charming theater, situated in the heart of the state’s oldest seaside resort, one better known for gingerbread bed-and-breakfasts than proscenium stages.

But news apparently travels slowly up the Parkway. So here’s a flash for those living in the farther regions of the Garden State: Amid this historic town’s 600 restored Victorian Era structures there is a gem of a theatrical operation housed in the Robert Shackleton Playhouse, a picturesque building that dates back to 1853, when it was a Presbyterian church (later, it became the town’s welcome center).

And Steinberg, who has been producing artistic director since 2009, is happy to say that despite the theater’s location in the southernmost part of New Jersey, its geography isn’t hurting attendance. In fact, at a time when theaters across the country are dealing with declining subscriptions, CMS’s subscriptions are up.

“It’s shocking and I’m grateful,” says Steinberg. “For each play, we estimate what the (financial) numbers are going to be, how many tickets we’re going to sell. And in every single case, we have exceeded those numbers.”

He adds, “All our shows are presented with great precision and care. I think that’s why people love Cape May Stage. They may not love everything we do, but it’s always done well.”

That, he believes, is the secret to the success of CMS, which is now winding down its 35th anniversary season.

The Robert Shackleton Playhouse in Cape May.

Steinberg arrived in Cape May from New York, where he produced and directed the television soap opera “Days of Our Lives” for more than five years. “I thought the show was going to be canceled and we’d come here for a year and then figure out what to do next. But each year, I and my wife (Broadway and regional theater actress Marlena Lustik) would say, ‘Let’s do one more year,’ and then one more, and one more. And now this is my 15th year.”

While Cape May Stage is a professional Equity theater, it has the feel of a small-town playhouse. “We have an extraordinarily close relationship with the community, but we’re not a community theater in the strict sense,” says Steinberg. “Nearly every cast has veteran actors from Broadway or Los Angeles. So the joke is people ask me, ‘Are the actors local?’ And I say, ‘Not unless they have a Tony Award.’ And in several cases they do.

“For example, Karen Ziemba, who lives in Manhattan, has a Tony Award. She has a house in the area and comes here to relax. She has performed for us a number of times as a cabaret artist. And last season she did a world premiere play called ‘America’s Sexiest Couple,’ by Ken Levine, who is the Emmy-award winning writer of ‘M*A*S*H.’ So, that’s what I mean when I say we get (top-flight) professionals. But many people still don’t know about us.”

With an M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama, and extensive experience in television production, Steinberg relies on his contacts with actors and actress on both coasts to cast shows, most of which he also directs. “I’m an old guy. I’ve been in a lot of different worlds,” he says. So he knows whom to call.

RYAN PERILLO

Cady McClain starred in “Shirley Valentine” at Cape May Stage.

For example, last season, he cast “All My Children” actress Cady McClain in “Shirley Valentine.” “I believe she’s the only one who has ever won an Emmy on all three networks,” Steinberg says. “She sold out the house. People wanted to see Dixie from ‘All My Children.’ ”

Cape May Stage’s seasons, which run from Memorial Day until the end of the year, include main-stage presentations; a “Broadway Series” starring nationally known musical acts; occasional free play readings; and, in May, a week-long Playwrights Symposium in which the theater hosts well-established playwrights to help emerging writers improve their craft. Among the playwrights who have participated in the symposium are Christopher Durang (“Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike”), Marsha Norman (” ‘night, Mother”), Stephen Adly Guirgis (“Between Riverside and Crazy”) and John Patrick Shanley (“Doubt: A Parable”).

“I didn’t just want writers to come in here and lecture. I wanted something that was creative,” says Steinberg. The symposium always ends with a showcase of new work written by participants during the week. “It’s a wonderful experience because material that did not exist the week before is presented to our audience for free.”

Despite Cape May Stage’s success following the pandemic lockdown, theater-making remains challenging. “During COVID we did virtual plays for free like ‘No Exit,’ which is the perfect play. You’re stuck in a room. You can’t get out,” says Steinberg.

“Now that we’re back in person, people are hungry for live entertainment again, but we’re doing much smaller-cast plays, not plays with six, seven cast members like ‘Boeing-Boeing’ or ‘Lion in Winter,’ ” he says. “For budget reasons and just health reasons, we’ve had two-people plays and one-person plays. And even then, it’s been unpredictable.”

While the demographics of a Cape May Stage audience skews older (over 50), Steinberg is intent on keeping productions fresh and challenging. “We’re interested in presenting plays that are a catalyst for discussion about what’s happening in the world — economically, politically, socially, morally, ethically,” he says. “I also try my best to find plays that are funny, because I think sometimes it’s easier to take something in when you’re laughing. But I also want plays that have something underneath it. So it may be funny, but dark-funny.”

Steinberg says he is also proud of the theater’s commitment to diverse material. “Long before the George Floyd episode, we staged plays like ‘ “Master Harold” … and the Boys’ by Athol Fugard, a South African playwright. After that we did ‘Topdog/Underdog’ (by Suzan-Lori Parks), and then we did ‘The Mountaintop’ (by Katori Hall) and ‘The Whipping Man’ (by Matthew López). We have a long history of diversity in our season. Theater can really help a community, in that you can walk in somebody else’s shoes for a while. It challenges you.”

Carolyn Mignini starred in Cape May Stage’s production of “Becoming Dr. Ruth.”

The 35th anniversary season proves Cape May Stage’s age is just a number. “All the shows this season were popular, and it was shocking to me,” says Steinberg. “Maybe it was just pure luck. But the very first play we did was ‘Becoming Dr. Ruth,’ ” by Mark St. Germain and starring Broadway and television actress Carolyn Mignini.

Steinberg had asked Dr. Ruth Westheimer to come see the show. And though she said yes, ill health prevented a visit. Instead, she sent a video that the theater played every night before the performance. “She said something like, ‘Hello, this is Dr. Ruth and I hear you’re going to see a play about me. I hope you like it.’ She passed away about two weeks after we closed. I think it very likely was the last thing she ever recorded as a video. It was very special.”

Over the years. CMS has been recognized for its high-quality productions by Broadwayworld.com. It received the Best Play of the Decade award (2010-2020) for “Lend Me a Tenor” by Ken Ludwig; Best Production in New Jersey (2016) for “Disgraced,” by Ayad Akhtar; and Best Director, given to Steinberg.

“One award that made me laugh was from Tripadvisor,” said Steinberg. “We were named among the Top 5 things to do in Cape May — right up there with Skee-Ball and miniature golf.”

As the year winds down, the wheel of What’s Next? continues spinning. The 2025 season will be more of the same, but different — plays that deal with “race, technology and things that are on people’s minds,” says Steinberg.

There also are plans to create more housing for actors. “We can’t do plays with huge casts if we don’t have any place to put the actors,” Steinberg says. “They’re not local. They’re coming from New York and Los Angeles. The theater owns a house in the vicinity, so we have plans down the road to add more bedrooms and bathrooms so we can bring in larger casts.”

But for now, the affable director is content to keep things going the way they are, because the way they are is pretty darn good. And when Steinberg looks back at his tenure in Cape May, he believes his biggest accomplishment has simply been making the theater a central part of people’s lives.

“Some have said to me that they never came to the theater before,” he says. “And now they’re subscribers, or they come to two of three shows every year, and they say how important the theater has become to them. Frankly, more and more people are coming that I’ve never seen before, and I’m here every night. There’s always a buzz here.”

Cape May Stage will present “Stones in His Pocket,” by Marie Jones, through Oct. 20; and “The Gift of the Magi: A Modern Adaption of the O. Henry Story,” by Marisa Smith, from Nov. 20 to Dec. 29. Visit capemaystage.org.