1970s Crystal Field and
George Bartenieff founded Theater for the New City in 1971 with Theo Barnes and
Lawrence Kornfeld, who was the Resident Director of
Judson Poets Theatre, where the four had met. Feeling that
Judson Poets Theatre had peaked, they decided to form a theater of their own for poetic work that would also encompass a community ideal. The impulse to form a company coincided with the availability of a space at the
Westbeth Artists Community in the
West Village. Bartenieff, Field, Barnes and Kornfeld named their new company "Theater for the New City" after a speech in which then-mayor
John V. Lindsay envisioned a "new city" for all. The theater officially opened in March 1971. Its initial two seasons included plays by
Richard Foreman,
Charles Ludlam,
Miguel Piñero and
Jean-Claude van Itallie. Theater for the New City also began its Annual Summer
Street Theater, and founded the
Village Halloween Parade with puppeteer
Ralph Lee. The Parade won an
Obie Award under TNC administration, but a desire to be much more commercially viable than TNC's anti-establishment spirit would allow caused
Ralph Lee to form his own Parade Committee and split from TNC in 1973. TNC subsequently inaugurated its
Village Halloween Costume Ball, which it still holds to this day. TNC saw some major changes in its first year. Kornfeld and Barnes resigned, leaving Bartenieff as Executive Director and Field as Artistic Director. TNC also moved from
Westbeth Artists Community and found a new home in the
Jane West, a former seaman's hotel at 113 Jane Street, in a run-down area of the
West Village by the
Hudson River. Theater for the New City played a large part in rehabilitating the neighborhood, and the theater it created would later be known as the
Jane Street Theater and house successes such as
Hedwig and the Angry Inch. During its time at the Jane West, Theater for the New City cemented its reputation for being the most avant of
avant-garde theater, offering radical political plays, experimental poetic works,
dance theater,
musical theater and even film.
Mabou Mines found a home at Theater for the New City as did playwrights such as
Romulus Linney,
Harvey Fierstein,
H. M. Koutoukas, Arthur Sainer,
Howard Zinn, and
Maria Irene Fornes. A musical adaptation of
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s
The Little Prince in 1973 featured a young
Tim Robbins in the title role. The 1976 play
Dinosaur Door by
Barbara Garson featured a young
Vin Diesel. In 1977, the theater moved from the West Village to the
East Village, converting a former Tabernacle Baptist church at 156 2nd Avenue, near East 10th Street, into a cultural complex with a rehearsal room and three theaters named after
Joe Cino, Charles Stanley and
James Waring. Notable productions in the late 1970s and 1980s include the American premiere of two of
Heiner Muller’s plays,
Hamletmachine in 1984 and
Quartett in 1985; and
Buried Child by
Sam Shepard in 1978. The Theater for the New City production of
Buried Child moved
off-Broadway to the
Theatre de Lys and in 1979, and became the first off-off-Broadway play to win the
Pulitzer Prize.
1980s–1990s Rent in New York City began to increase exponentially in the early 1980s and Theater for the New City was forced to find another home in 1984 after its rent increased 300%. With the help of
Bess Myerson,
Ruth Messinger and
David Dinkins, the theater was able to purchase an underutilized former
WPA building one block east at 155 First Avenue in 1986. The first Halloween Ball to take place in the new location was held in tents pitched on 10th Street because a Certificate of Occupancy hadn't yet been obtained. Refusing to close doors during renovation, TNC threw up two interim theater spaces, which like its predecessors in the 2nd Avenue building, were named after off-off-Broadway founders
Joe Cino and Charles Stanley. The first completed theater was created with the help of sculptor
John Seward Johnson II of the
Johnson & Johnson family and his wife Joyce. In honor of its benefactors, it was named the
Joyce and Seward Johnson Theater. It is currently one of the largest theaters off-off-Broadway. Renovation of the building was finally completed in 2001. Responding to the homeless problem of the late 1980s and government cutbacks in the arts, TNC created an after school Arts-in-Education program for shelter children in 1990. Budget cuts also forced the theater to reluctantly raise its admission prices from $4 to $5–$7 in 1993 ($7 was then the price of a movie ticket) and then to $10 in 1994. The current cap on ticket prices is $20. Other major changes in this period include the resignation of George Bartenieff in 1992. Crystal Field remains as Executive Artistic Director.
Current status and events TNC continues to produce 30-40 new plays per year, along with its Annual Summer Street Theater, the Annual Village Halloween Costume Ball and the Lower East Side Festival of the Arts, which was created in 1996 to celebrate the ethnic and artistic diversity of TNC's
Lower East Side neighborhood. From 2006 to 2008, TNC presented the NY Uke Fest, a 4 night, 3 day celebration of ukulele music, under the direction of Uke Jackson and the New York Ukulele Ensemble. Many first generation off-off-Broadway
playwrights continue to present their work at TNC, among them
Charles Busch (who premiered his plays
Shanghai Moon at TNC in 1999,
The Divine Sister in 2010, and
Judith of Bethulia in 2012),
Jean-Claude van Itallie and
Tom O'Horgan. More recent TNC alumni include
Tony Award-winning director
Moises Kaufman, who directed his first American plays at TNC after emigrating from his native
Argentina, and
Nobel Prize winner Gao Xinjian, whose first play in America was staged at TNC in 1997. Other notable playwrights to have their work presented at TNC include
Bina Sharif, Barbara Kahn,
Laurence Holder,
Raymond J. Barry,
Trav S.D. and
Matt Morillo. TNC continues to be a haven for Emerging playwrights, and in 2006, a play reading series,
New City, New Blood, was created in order to further showcase new works. In addition to their Community Festivals, several outside groups are presented at TNC. Annually, the
Bread & Puppet Theater and the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers are presented by TNC, and each December, noted Playwright and TNC Alum
Charles Busch holds a staged reading of his play
Times Square Angel. In 2004, TNC began holding an annual
Valentine's Day Benefit. The ''Love N' Courage'' Benefit is held on a Monday night, near Valentine's Day. Beginning in 2007, this benefit is held at
The National Arts Club. The event, presented in a pageant style, is meant as a fundraiser for TNC, and has honored friends of TNC, patrons of the arts, and, in 2006, the City of
New Orleans. TNC donated a portion of the proceeds raised from this Benefit to
Southern Rep, a theater company in New Orleans whose space was destroyed in the floods resulting from
Hurricane Katrina. This event often features a star-studded lineup of performers; it has been hosted by
Charles Busch and
Julie Halston, and performers have included
Kitty Carlisle Hart,
Elaine Stritch,
Patricia Neal,
Tammy Grimes,
F. Murray Abraham,
Eli Wallach and
Anne Jackson. The 2008 benefit honored playwright
Edward Albee and included performances by
Elaine Stritch,
Marian Seldes, Basil Twist and
Bill Irwin. The 2009 benefit honored
Elaine Stritch and in 2010,
Eli Wallach and
Anne Jackson were honored. In 2012, TNC honored the 100th birthday of
Bel Kaufman. The benefit in 2013 will honor
Charles Busch. TNC is featured in the 2007
Academy Award-nominated film
The Savages. TNC announced in January 2013 that the
mortgage on their space at 155 1st Avenue, which had begun in 1987 at $717,000, had been retired, 5 years ahead of schedule, thanks to a two-year "Burn The Mortgage" campaign that included widespread support from individual donors and independent foundations. This ensures TNC will remain a permanent fixture on the landscape of Theater in New York City. ==Programs==