When actors Robert Elston and Elizabeth Perry were touring in Shot in the Dark with Patty Duke and John Astin, they determined that upon their return to New York they would pool their resources and form a workshop where theater artists could expand their abilities, reach into all areas of creativity in the theater, and regain the breadth of expression that was afforded “a simple player” before the age of specialization.

The American Renaissance Theater was formed in 1975 as a nameless workshop. Ms. Perry brought to the nascent theater company members from her own group, Projects 70’s, and the New York Tea Party, a feminist group, which included members from the APA-Phoenix Repertory Company and another ARTC founding member, Etain O’Malley. Mr. Elston invited colleagues who included Larry Kramer, an untried playwright at the time, Richard Morse, an accomplished mime, and Janet Hayes Walker, who subsequently formed the York Theatre Company. Other founding members were Martha Schlamme, the celebrated interpreter of Kurt Weill, John Astin, Kent Broadhurst, Anthony Call, Patty Duke, Anita Keal, Scotty Bloch, Anita Khanzadian of Theatre at St. Clements, and Susan Reed, the folk singer, instrumentalist and recording artist. At its incorporation in January of 1976, the new theater group was given the name “Renaissance” by its members, a group of renaissance men and women. ARTC received non-profit status in August of 1976, and with the guidance of Robert Elston as Artistic Director, and Elizabeth Perry as Associate Director, the founders quickly put into play the ideas they had been planning for two years.

In 1976, the American Renaissance Theatre Company found a permanent home at 112 Charlton Street, a black box theater directly downstairs from Robert Elston’s newly acquired apartment.

On Charlton Street, with Robert Elston as Artistic Director, and Elizabeth Perry as Associate Director, company members pitched in to create a versatile and attractive theater space where they set to work producing five full plays a season, in addition to readings of new works in progress. Under the leadership of Mr. Elston, plays by Tennessee Williams, Thornton Wilder, William Inge, and Chekhov were presented along with original works as they were developed within the fast growing workshop.