The Theatre Row Building is a complex of five

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer th ...

theatres at 410 West 42nd Street on Theatre Row in

Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, 59th Street to the north, Eighth Avenue to the ea ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The building is owned by the

501(c)(3) organization A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of ...

non-profit Building for the Arts and is the center piece of an effort to transform the

adult entertainment The sex industry (also called the sex trade) consists of businesses that either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment. The industry includes activities involving direct provision of sex-related ...

district on 42nd Street between Ninth Avenue and Tenth Avenue into an Off-Broadway theater district.

History

The 42nd Street Development Corporation was formed in 1976 by Fred Papert with a mission of working to revitalize all of 42nd Street which had become home to numerous pornographic businesses. In 1977

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A p ...

was elected to its board and in 1977 it began a process to replace porn stores between 9th Avenue and Dyer on the south side of the street with off Broadway theatres, rehearsal spaces and offices. Among the bigger adult venues being replaced were the 42nd Street Playhouse which had signs advertising "All Live Burlesk" and Mermaid. In the same year the

Manhattan Plaza Manhattan Plaza is a large federally subsidized residential complex of 46 floors and at 400 and 484 West 43rd Street in midtown Manhattan, New York City. Opened in 1977, it has 1,689 units and about 3,500 tenants. 70% of the tenants are from t ...

apartment tower opened on the north side of 42nd. The first theatre renovations were dedicated in 1978 with

Walter Mondale Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (January 5, 1928 – April 19, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 42nd vice president of the United States from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. A U.S. senator from Minnesota ...

Joan Mondale Joan Mondale (née Adams; August 8, 1930 – February 3, 2014) was the second lady of the United States from 1977 until 1981 as the wife of Walter Mondale, the 42nd vice president of the United States. She was an artist and author and served on t ...

and

Ed Koch Edward Irving Koch ( ; December 12, 1924February 1, 2013) was an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, film critic, and television personality. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and was ma ...

among those attending. The transformation of the district was highlighted in the scenes and settings for the 1981 film ''

Tootsie ''Tootsie'' is a 1982 American satirical romantic comedy-drama film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Dustin Hoffman. Its supporting cast includes Pollack, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Bill Murray, Charles Durning, Geo ...

''. Audiences to the Off Broadway venues noted in the 1980s that the buildings still maintained the rough edges of their porn history with poor seating, poor bathrooms and air conditioning that worked intermediately so in 1999, under Theatre Row Managing Director Ray Cullom, the core of the Theatre Row Buildings were gut renovated and rebuilt from the ground up with the five theatres opening in brand new spaces in 2002 in the original five-story brick building (even as tall apartment towers rose adjacent to it). In 2019 the theatre complex was renovated and the individual theatres renamed.

Theatres

* Theatre One, formerly the Lion Theatre, with 88 seats. It sits on the site of the original Clurman Theatre and was named for the Lion Theatre which was one of the original theatres to open on Theatre Row in 1977. * Theatre Two, formerly the Rodney Kirk Theatre, with 99 seats. It was formerly named for the first director of

. * Theatre Three, formerly the Acorn Theatre, is the largest of the complex with 199 seats. * Theatre Four, formerly the Samuel Beckett Theatre, with 99 seats. * Theatre Five, formerly the

Harold Clurman Harold Edgar Clurman (September 18, 1901 – September 9, 1980) was an American theatre director and drama critic. In 2003, he was named one of the most influential figures in U.S. theater by PBS.

Theatre, with 99 seats. * Studio Theatre which is a 55-seat

black box theater A black box theater is a simple performance space, typically a square room with black walls and a flat floor. The simplicity of the space allows it to be used to create a variety of configurations of stage and audience interaction. The black ...

References

{{Off-Broadway theatres Theatres completed in 2002 Theatres in Manhattan Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan 2002 establishments in New York City 42nd Street (Manhattan)