About

Celebrating a Vivid Heritage and
Forging a New Legacy

THEN...

Situated in a landmark building in Greenwich Village, Cherry Lane Theatre serves as a vital lab for the development of new American works and a home for groundbreaking productions of both new and classic theater of the highest caliber. As New York's longest continuously running Off-Broadway theatre, Cherry Lane has helped to define American drama, fostering fresh, daring, and relevant theater for 85 years. Cherry Lane considers the playwright central to the dramatic event and the text the primary source of theatrical innovation and excellence.

Cherry Lane's mission is inextricably linked to the history of this American original. In 1924, the visionary poet Edna St. Vincent Millay and a group of artists converted an early 19th Century industrial building into a theater they called Cherry Lane Playhouse. Over the subsequent nine decades, it has been the site for some of the most courageous experiments in the chronicles of the American stage. The Living Theatre, Theatre of the Absurd, and Downtown Theater movement all took root at the lively Playhouse; and Cherry Lane has proven fertile ground for most of the gifted writers of the 20th century, including: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Eugene O'Neill, Clifford Odets, Gertrude Stein, T.S. Eliot, Samuel Beckett, Edward Albee, Sam Shepard, Lanford Wilson, Joe Orton, and David Mamet.

...AND NOW

In 1996, Artistic Director Angelina Fiordellisi founded the present not-for-profit as a home for artists and audiences to discover the joys and risks of theatrical invention in an atmosphere of artistic freedom and camaraderie. Drawing inspiration from the pioneering spirit of Cherry Lane's founders, the current leadership is dedicated to the development of new works by new writers, while also maintaining the Theatre's long-standing role as the home for world premieres by leading dramatists and revivals of landmark works drawn from our rich history. In the past 12 years, more than 50 plays and playwrights have been produced at Cherry Lane. Thirty-seven of these have been new works developed through our Mentor Project, and a significant number have subsequently been staged On- and Off-Broadway, as well as in regional and international theatres. Cherry Lane has a demonstrated track record of moving new dramatic works from our development programs to productions reaching larger audiences both on our own Mainstage and elsewhere.

Cherry Lane provides a nurturing community for playwrights and theater artists, both seasoned and emerging, to work together in revealing the social consciousness of a changed world. In this way, we serve the cultural needs of our larger community of New York City while developing a dedicated, returning audience.

RECOGNITION

Over the course of its history, Cherry Lane has won numerous awards and honors, including, in 1955, the distinction of being the first Off-Broadway theater to win a Tony Award. Most recently, Mentor Project earned a 2008 Obie Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Development of New Work. Today, Cherry Lane Theatre continues to thrive, with a mission to create theater that perpetuates its groundbreaking history of nurturing new voices for the contemporary American theatre.

PROGRAMS

Cherry Lane is not a static symbol of historic excellence - rather, it is a dynamic, exciting production company that is home for some of the most talented playwrights, directors, and actors working today, as well as the theater artists of tomorrow.

Cherry Lane fosters daring, quality new plays relevant to the uniquely diverse audience cultivated through Mentor Project and Discovery Series World Premieres. The Heritage Series is comprised of landmark plays originally presented at Cherry Lane throughout its 85 year history. Guest Productions (rentals) augment the calendar, benefiting non-resident partner companies with subsidized rentals and access to Cherry Lane's established audience (while also providing the Theatre with significant earned income). The balance between these different types of productions shifts from year to year, but all are integral parts of Cherry Lane's mission and operating model.

Fully-staged productions are supplemented by a range of other development and engagement initiatives, including TONGUES: Reading Series, the Master Class Series, our Celebrating Black Playwrights and Celebrating Women Playwrights programs, and the Cherry Pit Late Nite performances.

Read more about our programs.

VENUES

Cherry Lane consists of three distinct theater spaces: The 179-seat Mainstage; the 60-seat Studio Theatre; and the 90-seat Cherry Pit (formerly the Bank Street Theater), which Cherry Lane has recently begun leasing. The three spaces provide unique performance experiences for audience and artist alike - they also allow for myriad programs and plays to occur simultaneously, both from within Cherry Lane's own producing or from its busy rental calendar made up of numerous small to midsize nonprofit companies around New York City.