On September 20, 1955, the world of theater witnessed the opening of a stunning revival of The Threepenny Opera, a work by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill that had already cemented its place as one of the 20th century’s most significant and revolutionary musicals. The production, which had originally premiered on August 31, 1928, at […]
It’s no surprise that one of New York City’s beloved cultural platforms, the Minetta Lane Theatre, is situated in the heart of the South Village, an area which Village Preservation got landmarked in 2013. Though it may not carry the instant recognition of Broadway’s grand stages, the Minetta Lane holds a unique place in the […]
Greenwich Village, known for its rich artistic heritage, has long been a haven for writers, musicians, and creative innovators of all stripes. Among the notable figures who have forged a life and a career here is Israel Horovitz (March 31, 1939 — November 9, 2020), a prolific playwright, screenwriter, and director whose time in Greenwich […]
Classic Stage Company (known as CSC amongst theatergoers) is an East Village theatrical landmark and one of the longest-running Off-Broadway companies. CSC has been committed to re-imagining classic stories for contemporary audiences since 1967. It is a home for both established and emerging artists to grapple with great works of the world’s repertory that speak […]
The off-broadway version of Hedwig and the Angry Inch premiered at the village’s own Jane Street Theatre on February 14, 1998. Looking at the playbill from performances during that era, one can see a number of contributors from our neighborhoods, including the Westbeth Theatre Center. John Cameron Mitchell and Stephan Trask’s glam/punk musical would eventually become a movie directed by Mitchell. It then went onto Broadway, receiving critical acclaim, Tony Awards, and the return of John Cameron Mitchell to the role he originated downtown.
Village Preservation shares our oral history collection with the public, highlighting some of the people and stories that make Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo such unique and vibrant neighborhoods. Each includes the experiences and insights of leaders or long-time participants in the arts, culture, preservation, business, or civic life. John Guare was born […]
It’s Theater Thursday, and for the first time in a long time, we have good news to report on that front! In case you’ve been out of the loop, our beloved theatrical institutions have been closed for the past year and a half due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It was an excruciating time for […]
Truman Streckfus Persons was born on September 30, 1924, in New Orleans. Truman started writing when he was eight years old — as a calling, and also as an answer to a truly difficult childhood. In 1932, he moved to New York City to live with his mother and her second husband, José García Capote, […]
Cary Grant: a name synonymous with Hollywood glamor in the mid-20th century. He tumbled and swanned, he looked equally incredible in a pristine tuxedo and in Katherine Hepburn’s fur-embellished silk robe in Bringing Up Baby, where he does a little jump and quipping, “I just went gay all of a sudden!” From Holiday to To […]
Throughout history, societies look to the arts to give insight and meaning to events and experiences. And so with good reason, we have been thinking a great deal about our theater artist community in these days and months since the pandemic has closed our beloved cultural institutions. Artists who create theater have been given the […]
As we continue to work through the reality of this new era in our lives, it’s important to remember the creative people in our world and our neighborhoods. They are striving to make sense out of the constrained circumstances we find ourselves in, and still are finding and creating new ways to keep us thinking […]
The theaters in our neighborhoods have long been the critical launching pads for playwrights, directors, actors, and theatrical artists of all stripes. As the Broadway lights were dimmed, for the time being, on March 12, 2020, Off Broadway Theaters struggled to make sense of what would be the best course of action for them as […]
With the city slowing down and most New Yorkers at home, our partners at Urban Archive are promoting NYC’s rich cultural gems online. Village Preservation has twenty tours and stories on Urban Archive. We have assembled a select group of four collections for you to explore today, but you can explore all twenty here.
On March 7th, 1967, the delightful musical comedy, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, made its debut at Theatre 80 at 80 St. Mark’s Place in the East Village. With music written by Clark Gesner (and the book written by, “’John Gordon’…a collective pseudonym that covers Gesner, the cast members, and the production staff, all […]
The Village has always been, and remains, a hotbed of artistic creativity. Theater artists and companies continue to thrive here, as more and more emerge or find new homes in the neighborhood. This week, we welcome the upstart Ars Nova to the scene!
Born Thomas Lanier Williams, III, on March 26th, 1911, playwright Tennessee Williams was as much a New Yorker as anyone, really. While his place of birth was really Columbus, Mississippi, he was an itinerant traveler of the world, but spent much of his professional career in New York City, primarily in Greenwich Village. Much like […]
I’ll take Manhattan! If you had to draw a picture of a New York playwright, you would probably draw someone like John Guare. Guare was born on February 5, 1938. A New Yorker’s New Yorker, he has lived in Greenwich Village with his wife, Adele Chatfield-Taylor, for 43 years. In his delightful piece in our […]
Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — help us to select the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village or NoHo: click here to nominate your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with friends. Where can you see a play or […]
This is the latest installment of Off the Grid’s series, “My Favorite Things,” in which we showcase some of our very favorite spots around the neighborhood, highlighting the incredible architecture, history, people, and businesses of the Village, East Village, and NoHo; read more HERE. Greenwich Village has been a hot-bed for creative theatrical minds since […]
On this day in 1888, Eugene Gladstone O’Neill was born, and the course of American theater would change forever. O’Neill became the first American dramatist to regard the stage as a literary medium and he remains the only U.S. playwright to capture the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Clifford Odets, one of America’s greatest playwrights, passed away on this day in 1963 at the age of 57. Odets grew up in the Bronx but migrated downtown as soon as he could in order to be around the artists, musicians, actors and writers who inhabited the Village. He began his career as an […]
“…But who knows what is real anyway? Reality is overrated. What remains are the words scrawled upon an unwinding panorama, vestiges of dusty stills peeled from memory, a threnody of gone voices drifting across the American plain. The One Inside is a coalescing atlas marked by the boot heels of one who instinctively tramps, with open […]
“I’d read about the Village, how Bohemian it was, and after getting thrown out of college, couldn’t wait to get here.” So were the words of groundbreaking playwright Edward Albee (March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016).
Greenwich Village has been a hot-bed for creative theatrical minds since at least the beginnings of the 20th century. In fact, among the most important of the movements in American theater were nurtured right in the heart of the Village.
