The Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York, Inc. [ART New York] offered a sneak preview of new theatre spaces that will soon be on the way for off and off off Broadway productions.
The two-theater complex at the Archstone Clinton development project at 10th Avenue and 53rd Street in Manhattan is the most ambitious project ever by the advocacy organization that works on behalf of New York City’s 375 nonprofit theatres which depend on affordable, flexible space to produce work and attract audiences.
Photo by Christine Butler.
Guests at the event inside the second floor Mezzanine Theatre at 502 West 53rd Street heard how the 99- and 150-seat theatres will consist of fully-equipped, highly-flexible performance spaces featuring top quality audio-visual and technical systems. The project will seek LEED Silver status.
A capital campaign in support of the $22.5 million project attracted $14.4 million from the City of New York.
ART New York executive director Ginny Louloudes explained how the Department of Design and Construction’s (DDC) Design Excellence program retained architect Toshiko Mori and theatrical consultants ARUP to design the theatre spaces. ART New York also received $400,000 from the New York State Assembly for state-of-the-art equipment, and $1 million from real estate owner and developer Jeffrey Gural and his wife Paula.
Gural, who has served as chairman of the ART New York board of directors since 2009, “Theatre is what makes New York City’s cultural scene what it is, and Paula and I are delighted to support ART New York, which works at a high level on behalf of all of the city’s theatre companies.
“We are particularly excited that the ART New York Theatres are for all the smaller companies without permanent homes of their own, who can find a new home at this building. It’s gratifying that our gift will be used to subsidize rents for these smaller companies, who will have access to fully equipped, world class performance facilities through this effort.”
ART New York is now raising the remainder of the monies needed to open the theatres, and create a Building Reserve Fund and a Rental Subsidy Fund.
