NY City Center
At NY City Center for Manhattan Theatre Club‘s Spring Boards, the annual play reading series dedicated to the support and development of innovative new work.
The distinctive building with the neo-Moorish façade and dome was constructed in the 1920s as a Shriners’ auditorium, after Carnegie Hall management, disturbed by the amount of cigar smoke generated during the Shriner’s meetings, evicted the organization. City Center was founded in 1943 when New York City Council President Newbold Morris and Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia converted the building into a home for the performing arts, designating it the People’s Theater — a cultural center to make the performing arts accessible to all New Yorkers.
NY City Center was the founding home to the New York City Opera and the New York City Ballet prior to the 1960s construction of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, which siphoned off most of the audience support for the center. The building was saved from demolition when it was designated a historical landmark, ensuring its survival as a premiere home for dance and, eventually, for a leading theater company.
There are no comments just yet.
Go for it ...
Search
Popular Tags
Categories
Archive
- July 2010
- July 2009
- January 2009
- November 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006