33-631: The Soho Repertory Theatre , known as Soho Rep , is an American Off-Broadway theater company based in New York City which is notable for producing avant-garde plays by contemporary writers. The company, described as a "cultural pillar", is currently located in a 65-seat theatre in the TriBeCa section of lower Manhattan . The company, and the projects it has produced, have won multiple prizes and earned critical acclaim, including numerous Obie Awards , Drama Desk Awards , Drama Critics' Circle Awards , and
66-709: A Pulitzer Prize . A recent highlight was winning the Drama Desk Award for Sustained Achievement for "nearly four decades of artistic distinction, innovative production, and provocative play selection." Notable artists who have recently created work at the theater, often early in their careers, include: David Adjmi , César Alvarez , Annie Baker , Alice Birch , Christopher Chen, Jackie Sibblies Drury , debbie tucker green , Aleshea Harris , Lucas Hnath , Branden Jacobs-Jenkins , Daniel Alexander Jones , Young Jean Lee , Richard Maxwell , Nature Theater of Oklahoma and Anne Washburn . The New York Times has described it as
99-420: A "safer home for dangerous plays". Critics note the “jaw dropping premieres” and “big plays in a small room” as defining features of the theater’s programming. New Yorker theatre critic Hilton Als wrote about current director Sarah Benson : Under her directorship I have never seen a boring production—a very rare thing, indeed. Her deeply individual sensibility is not compromised by needs other than those of
132-457: A 1984 essay, 'The Theatre of Good Intentions', [Wellman] has been the cynosure in a heaven full of experimental playwrights who rail against what Jonathan Lear, in his book Open Minded , called a 'tyranny' of 'the already known'." Discussing his style with BOMB Magazine , Wellman said that he uses words as objects in his writing. "I found if you try to write totally in cliches and things that don't sound right," Wellman clarified, "you deal with
165-503: A Distance (Season 30) (Season 31) (Season 32) 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 than 100. An "off-Broadway production" is a production of a play , musical , or revue that appears in such
198-757: A Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writers Award, and the 2003 Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement, as well as the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists award (2003). In 1967 Wellman earned a baccalaureat International Relations at the American University , marrying his first wife, Nancy Roesch, the same year. Moving to the University of Wisconsin , he earned a master's degree in English focusing on poetry. After teaching several years, he sought professional renewal by touring Europe. In The Netherlands , Wellman began
231-489: A collaboration with Annemarie Prins, a Dutch theatrical director/producer whom he had first met during his junior year in college, creating radio plays . In 1975 they directed a stage production, Fama Combinatoria , at Theatre de Brakke Grand in Amsterdam. During the late seventies Wellman moved to New York City and married a Dutch journalist, Yolanda Gerritsen. Wellman continued writing poetry and plays, and in 1977 published
264-459: A collection of poetry, In Praise of Secrecy , while in 1979 his play, Starluster was produced in New York. Wellman's plays frequently resemble a moving collage of events which has more in common with an avant-garde dance production than Broadway-style theater. Wellman has stated, "More and more I think all theater is site-specific. When plays work, they work in the space." Helen Shaw wrote, "Since
297-464: A language that frankly is 98% of what people speak, think, and hear. So it's enormously enjoyable." This type of language has been positively characterized as "an untrammeled flow of logorrhea: plain words, fancy words, space-age words, Victorian words and words that defy the dictionary" by The New York Times reviewer Ben Brantley . In terms of production, Wellman experiments with stage direction. Some directions are spoken and others are not, blurring
330-504: A new outlet for "poets, playwrights, actors, songwriters, and designers. ... The first great Off-Broadway musical was the 1954 revival" of The Threepenny Opera , which proved that off-Broadway productions could be financially successful. Critic John Gassner argued at the time, however, that "Broadway is just as eclectic – and just as footless – as 'Off-Broadway'." Theatre Row , on West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues in Manhattan,
363-521: A professional venue in Manhattan with a seating capacity of at least 100, but not more than 499, or a production that appears in such a venue and adheres to related trade union and other contracts. Previously, regardless of the size of the venue, a theatre was considered a Broadway (rather than off-Broadway) house if it was within the "Broadway Box", extending from 40th Street north to 54th Street and from Sixth Avenue west to Eighth Avenue , including Times Square and West 42nd Street . This change to
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#1733085170046396-627: A shared leadership model. (Season 1) (Season 2) (Season 3) (Season 4) (Season 5) (Season 6) (Season 7) (Season 8) (Season 9) (Season 10) (Season 11) (Season 12) (Season 13) (Season 14) (Season 15) (Season 16) Julian Webber is hired as Co-Artistic Director (with Marlene Swartz) (Season 17) (Season 18) (Season 19) (Season 20) (Season 21) (Season 23) (Season 24) (Season 25) (Season 26) (Season 27) OBIE, Special Citation, Direction OBIE, Special Citation, Set Design (Season 28) (Season 29) Flies from
429-475: A short period for building renovations, which had been paid for with a fundraising campaign as well as help from the city's building commissioner, Rick Chandler and Julie Menin . In July 2024, Soho Rep announced it would be leaving its longtime home of Walkerspace, citing rising rent costs, lack of accessibility, and the costs of persistent repairs. The company will share space with Playwrights Horizons as it considers long-term plans. Since 2019, Soho Rep has used
462-572: A venue and adheres to related trade union and other contracts. Some shows that premiere off-Broadway are subsequently produced on Broadway. The term originally referred to any venue, and its productions, on a street intersecting Broadway in Midtown Manhattan 's Theater District , the hub of the American theatre industry. It later became defined by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers as
495-478: Is a concentration of off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway theatres. It was developed in the mid-1970s and modernized in 2002. Many off-Broadway shows have had subsequent runs on Broadway, including such musicals as Hair , Godspell , Little Shop of Horrors , Sunday in the Park with George , Rent , Grey Gardens , Urinetown , Avenue Q , The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee , Rock of Ages , In
528-665: Is based on the capacity given for the respective theatre at the Internet Off-Broadway Database . Mac Wellman John McDowell Wellman (born March 7, 1945), is an American playwrighter, author, and poet. He is best known for his experimental work in the theater which rebels against theatrical conventions, often abandoning such traditional elements as plot and character altogether. In 1990, he received an Obie Award for Best New American Play (for Bad Penny , Terminal Hip , and Crowbar ). In 1991, he received another Obie Award for Sincerity Forever . He has received
561-530: The Lucille Lortel Award (created in 1985 by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres & Producers), and the Drama League Award . Although off-Broadway shows are not eligible for Tony Awards , an exception was made in 1956 (before the rules were changed), when Lotte Lenya won Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for the off-Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera . Capacity
594-794: The 1990s, he collaborated with Bang on a Can composer David Lang in 2006 on the opera The Difficulty of Crossing a Field , adapted from a very short story by Ambrose Bierce . He has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts , New York Foundation for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation , the McKnight Foundation and a Guggenheim Fellowship . In 1990, he received an Obie Award for Best New American Play (for Bad Penny , Terminal Hip , and Crowbar ). In 1991, he received another Obie Award for Sincerity Forever . He has received
627-470: The 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and had an extended run. The company celebrates with an annual gala usually in the spring, sometimes on a rooftop. During the forty-five years of its existence, the theatre has produced in several venues in lower Manhattan, often being forced to move because of issues with rent or city building requirements, and survived from time to time with help from city authorities and supporters. Its first space in 1975 on 19 Mercer Street
660-646: The Broadway Box are the Laura Pels Theatre and The Theater Center . The off-Broadway movement started in the 1950s as a reaction to the perceived commercialism of Broadway and provided less expensive venues for shows that have employed many future Broadway artists. An early success was Circle in the Square Theatre 's 1952 production of Summer and Smoke by Tennessee Williams . According to theatre historians Ken Bloom and Frank Vlastnik, off-Broadway offered
693-921: The Heights , Spring Awakening , Next to Normal , Hedwig and the Angry Inch , Fun Home , Hamilton , Dear Evan Hansen , Hadestown , and Kimberly Akimbo . In particular, two that became Broadway hits, Grease and A Chorus Line , encouraged other producers to premiere their shows off-Broadway. Plays that have moved from off-Broadway houses to Broadway include Doubt , I Am My Own Wife , Bridge & Tunnel , The Normal Heart , and Coastal Disturbances . Other productions, such as Stomp , Blue Man Group , Altar Boyz , Perfect Crime , Forbidden Broadway , Nunsense , Naked Boys Singing , Bat Boy: The Musical , and I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change have had runs of many years off-Broadway, never moving to Broadway. The Fantasticks ,
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#1733085170046726-463: The company was sometimes producing two shows per night, allowing audiences to see both plays in succession on a Saturday night. The founding duo produced more than a hundred plays until Engelbach left in 1989. Since its early days, the company's focus has shifted to contemporary avant-garde theatrical works. In 1981, after producing works from Shakespeare to Shaw , the company produced its first new play: Stephen Davis Parks' The Idol Makers . Among
759-457: The contractual definition of "off-Broadway" benefited theatres satisfying the 499-seat criterion because of the lower minimum required salary for Actors' Equity performers at Off-Broadway theatres as compared with the salary requirements of the union for Broadway theatres. The adoption of the 499-seat criterion occurred after a one-day strike in January 1974. Examples of off-Broadway theatres within
792-513: The line between action and direction. Wellman notes, "That's something I'm really interested in. I like it when people talk about what's going on in a play. Sometimes it's more interesting than trying to enact everything." Wellman is the I. Fine Professor of Play Writing at Brooklyn College , New York City, and in 2010 he became a CUNY Distinguished Professor. Wellman is author of more than forty plays, including: In addition to several collaborations with composer/percussionist David Van Tieghem in
825-646: The longest-running musical in theatre history, spent its original 42-year run off-Broadway and had another off-Broadway run from 2006 to 2017. Off-Broadway shows, performers, and creative staff are eligible for the following awards: the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award , the Outer Critics Circle Award , the Drama Desk Award , the Obie Award (presented since 1956 by The Village Voice ),
858-461: The many new works presented were plays by Americans Len Jenkin and Mac Wellman . After 1989, Swartz partnered with English director Julian Webber, and they worked together for the next decade until Swartz departed in 1999. The company was run by Artistic Director Daniel Aukin from 1998 to 2006, and he produced new work by artists including Adam Bock , Young Jean Lee , Richard Maxwell , Melissa James Gibson , and María Irene Fornés . Sarah Benson
891-488: The psychiatric hospital, sometimes backstage their actors and writers rode the same elevator with patients, recalled playwright Mac Wellman . After a year they moved to Greenwich Village, and stayed there until 1991, when they found their present-day space at 46 Walker Street in Tribeca . Dubbed Walkerspace , the present theatre is only a few blocks from the company's original venue. The company has been at this location except for
924-561: The theater until Benson and Peponides' departure in 2023. In 2023, Caleb Hammons and Eric Ting joined Cynthia Flowers as co-directors of the theater. The company has an annual budget of around $ 2 million and employs a full-time staff of seven. In 2020, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the company put eight artists on salary for the 2020-21 season through the creation of a job creation program titled Project Number One referencing Federal Project Number One . The Soho Repertory Theatre company
957-506: The work at hand, and it’s that freedom, structured around shows that I may not agree with but always learn from, that distinguishes the SoHo Rep... Benson has imbued each work with a tough, unsentimental core; she’s also made the plays into distinct visual works that help us see the words. In 2019 the company adopted a shared leadership model. The three Directors of the theater of the company Sarah Benson , Cynthia Flowers, and Meropi Peponides led
990-493: Was appointed as Artistic Director in 2007. Around this time, the company transitioned from the smaller Off-off-Broadway model of less than 100 seats to an Off-Broadway contract, typically reserved for theatres with a 100-499 seat capacity . Benson and Flowers ran the theater together from 2012 until being joined by Producer Meropi Peponides in 2014. In the last decade the company has taken on ambitious projects often winning awards and critical acclaim. One of Benson's first plays
1023-568: Was founded in 1975 by Jerry Engelbach and Marlene Swartz. From June through September 1975, they remodeled a former textile factory in SoHo . They wanted the space to feel "light and informal" so the audience would feel comfortable. They produced their first play, Maxwell Anderson 's Key Largo , on September 25. Their initial focus was on rarely seen classical plays, such as works by Aristophanes , Shakespeare , Molière , Jean Anouilh , Michel de Ghelderode , Eugene O'Neill and Samuel Beckett . By 1979,
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1056-540: Was in a converted hat warehouse, described by the founders as a "practical adaptation of the Shakespearean playhouse laid out in a modest modern space". In 1985, Bob Moss of Playwrights Horizons , assisted by the mayor's office and a grant from the Manhattan Borough President, helped them relocate to a 100-seat neo-classical theater attached to Bellevue Hospital. While the theatre had a separate entrance from
1089-430: Was writer Sarah Kane ’s Blasted which won the director an Obie Award . Benson's production of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins 's An Octoroon won an Obie for Best New American Play and transferred to Theatre for a New Audience . Taibi Magar's production of Aleshea Harris ' 'Is God Is' re-opened Walkerspace in 2018 following renovations and won multiple Obie awards. Benson directed Jackie Sibblies Drury's 'Fairview' which won
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