Soho Rep's Spring 2014 Gala Evacuated After Venue Mishap

Off-Broadway's Soho Repertory Theatre was forced to evacuate and cancel its Spring 2014 gala last night, March 31, after a support beam of the second floor balcony at the Angel Orensanz Center cracked around 7:15 p.m. According to New York Magazine, the floor began to sag on the left side of the balcony at the Lower East Side synagogue.

"It's nothing short of awful," presenter Tim Blake Nelson told NY Mag. "But I guess you live in New York, and on every block is history. And we wanted to have our benefit in a place that exemplifies that. And you don't know what kind of risks you're ever taking."

Read the original report here.

The 500 people who we were in attendance before the official event start time moved to the front steps and watched a marching band performance of "Feel Alright" by Steve Earle.

Hosted by Gretchen Mol and Tim Blake Nelson, Soho Rep's Spring Fête, was set to honor Jon Dembrow, Soho Rep. Board Chair since 1999. It would have included presentations by two-time Academy award-winner Sally Field, Academy award-winner Marisa Tomei, Emmy award-winner Bobby Cannavale, comedian Richard Lewis, and Tony nominated actress Marin Ireland, along with performances by three-time Grammy award-winner Steve Earle, Tony award-winner Bill Irwin, composer Todd Almond (Tempest), playwright and OBIE award-winning actress Eisa Davis (Passing Strange) and actress Amber Gray (Natasha Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812).

Founded in 1975, and in its theater on Walker Street since 1991, Soho Rep. has built an outstanding reputation for being at the forefront of new and innovative theatre, serving as a vital center for contemporary theatre artists. Soho Rep. is dedicated to cultivating and producing visionary, uncompromising, and exuberant new plays, performing to one of the youngest adult audiences in New York City, with over half aged 18-40.

Over the last decade, Soho Rep. productions have garnered 15 OBIE Awards; nine Drama Desk nominations, two Kesselring Awards, The New York Times Outstanding Playwriting Award for Dan LeFranc's Sixty Miles To Silverlake and, a special citation in The New York Drama Critics' Circle's 2012-13 awards. In recent years, Soho Rep. has presented plays by established and emerging theatre artists such as Annie Baker, Lucas Hnath, Sarah Kane, Daniel Alexander Jones, Debbie Tucker Green, Mac Wellman, Young Jean Lee, Richard Maxwell, Nature Theater of Oklahoma and Jackie Sibblies Drury.

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