East Lynne Theater Company

East Lynne Theater Company (ELTC) is a proven destination for theater lovers who crave the adventure of discovery. By bringing the American Spirit to the stage with its blend of provocative premieres and timeless classics, this award-winning Equity professional theater provides a portal to the past for a better understanding of the present.

Warren Kliewer founded ELTC in 1980. He envisioned it as “a vehicle for rediscovering the enduring values of the American heritage and for deepening our understanding of what it means to be an American." Warren named the company after a popular play that was first produced in Brooklyn in 1863: East Lynne, adapted from Ellen Wood's novel.

ELTC first performed in Secaucus before moving to The William Carlos Williams Center in Rutherford. The company was asked to move to Cape May in 1988 after Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts and Humanities sponsored three ELTC touring shows.

ELTC's directors, musicians, designers, and actors work together throughout the year to create quality productions, many not seen anywhere else. Between 1980 and 2018, ELTC produced 181 different plays and musicals (NOT counting repetitions), including 53 world premieres and 16 New Jersey premieres.

ELTC takes pride in providing theater-goers, actors, and directors, alike, the experience of seeing and working on plays by American Masters like Rachel Crothers, George S. Kaufman, and Eugene O'Neill, as well as new works based on American literature and history by playwrights including James Rana, Jan Buttram, and Laura Gunderson. ELTC's artist-in-residence programs in schools and summer theater workshops teach students acting, playwriting, and production. The company's touring shows travel throughout the country. During the Cape May performing season, the company is in residence at the historic First Presbyterian Church of Cape May, right in the center of town, a block away from the beach.

Operating all year long, ELTC's programming has included: a Mainstage Season, Tales of the Victorians, Sunday Silent Films, The Ghosts of Christmas Past Trolley Rides, Touring Productions, and lectures and workshops for all ages at various locations. Season tickets, group rates, dinner-show packages, B&B-show packages, and packages for bus/private tours are available. ELTC is a not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) corporation and donations are tax-deductible.​​