Origins and conversion The building was constructed as a farm silo in 1817, and also served as a brewery, tobacco warehouse, and box factory before Evelyn Vaughn, William S. Rainey, Reginald Travers &
Edna St. Vincent Millay converted the structure into a theater they christened the Cherry Lane Playhouse. It opened in 1923. This was followed by the plays
The Man Who Ate Popomack, by W. J. Turner, directed by Reginald Travers, on March 24, 1924; and
The Way of the World by William Congreve, produced by the Cherry Lane Players Inc., opening November 17, 1924.
Experimental theater hub The Cherry Lane Theatre has long been a home for nontraditional and
experimental works. Particularly during the 1950s and '60s, it hosted many
avant garde performances that were identified with the
counterculture. It regularly staged works by playwrights associated with the
Theatre of the Absurd. The modernist stage company
The Living Theatre was in residence in 1951 and 1952, performing rarities like
Pablo Picasso's
Desire Caught by the Tail. Occasionally, the theatre even hosted musical performances, providing a venue for
Bob Dylan and
Pete Seeger long before their ascensions to fame. A succession of major American plays was produced at the theater by writers including
F. Scott Fitzgerald,
John Dos Passos, and
Elmer Rice in the 1920s; Samuel Beckett,
Pablo Picasso,
T. S. Eliot,
Jean Anouilh, and
Tennessee Williams in the 1950s;
Harold Pinter,
LeRoi Jones,
Eugène Ionesco,
Terrence McNally,
Lanford Wilson, and
Lorraine Hansberry, in the 1960s, as well as
Edward Albee, staging a large number of his plays; and
Sam Shepard,
Joe Orton and
David Mamet in the 1970s and 1980s. Beckett's
Happy Days had its world premiere at the Cherry Lane, directed by
Alan Schneider, on September 17, 1961, and the American premiere of his
Endgame opened on January 28, 1958, also directed by Schneider, starring
Alvin Epstein and
Lester Rawlins.
Sam Shepard's
True West premiered at the Cherry Lane on October 17, 1982, starring
John Malkovich and
Gary Sinise.
Fiordellisi ownership Angelina Fiordellisi bought the theater and the building in 1996 for $1.7 million and renovated it for $3 million. In 1998, Fiordellisi, Brinkley, and playwright
Michael Weller co-founded the company's Mentor Project, which matches established dramatists with aspiring playwrights in one-to-one mentoring relationships. Each mentor works with a playwright to perfect a single work during the season-long process, which culminates in a production. In August 2011, Angelina Fiordellisi announced that Cherry Lane Theatre had been able to work off almost all of its debt, and planned to produce again in 2012. Fiordellisi had received hundreds of phone calls, emails, and visits from people who were concerned to hear that she was leaving and that the theatre was for sale, and when those people started referring rentals to Cherry Lane, she was able to look ahead and feel more secure about the theatre's financial future. Cherry Lane Theatre began producing new works again with its
Obie Award–winning Mentor Project in February 2012. In July 2021, it was announced that the theatre had been sold to the Lucille Lortel Foundation, and Fiordellisi would remain involved with the Cherry Lane Alternative. However, the sale to the Lortel Foundation fell through due to disputes over the price. In November 2021, the theater was placed back on the market for nearly $13 million.
A24 ownership In March 2023, a partnership between film studio
A24 and global private equity real estate firm Taurus Investment Holdings, LLC purchased the theatre from Fiordellisi for a little over $10 million, marking an expansion for A24 beyond film and television into theatre. A24 indicated that it would retain the Cherry Lane as a live-theatre venue. Following a $2.3 million renovation, A24 announced in mid-2025 that the Cherry Lane Theatre would reopen that September. The modifications included upgrades to equipment, seating, and the lobby. Following the renovation, the Cherry Lane had 167 seats. ==Productions==