pixeltracker

How are BAM, Kaye Playhouse, etc classified?

How are BAM, Kaye Playhouse, etc classified?

Seperite
#1How are BAM, Kaye Playhouse, etc classified?
Posted: 2/27/15 at 9:25pm

"Broadway" theaters are the 40 houses around Times Sq (and the Beaumont) that have over 499 seats. "Off-Broadway" houses are those theaters with 100-499 seats that use off-Broadway contracts and employ Equity actors. "Off-off Broadway" theaters are those that have fewer than 100 seats and which do not necessarily use Equity actors

But how are those large theaters about town, like BAM, the Danny Kaye Playhouse at Hunter, and others, classified? These are clearly "professional" theaters that produce serious work with union actors and crew. They are too big to be deemed off-Broadway, but they're not Broadway either. How are they officially classified?

JBroadway Profile Photo
JBroadway
#2How are BAM, Kaye Playhouse, etc classified?
Posted: 2/27/15 at 9:46pm

I started a thread a while back asking a very similar question (though I can't seem to find the thread right now). I seem to remember that the answer had to do with contracts. Even if a theatre has over 500 seats, it can still be Off-Broadway or Off-Off Broadway because they don't operate on a Broadway contract, or they don't operate on an Off-Broadway contract. So I guess technically theatres like BAM and St. Ann's Warehouse and such are considered Off Off Broadway. However, I know that a lot of people just refer to them as Off-Broadway even if they aren't officially. I know theatremania lists shows like Iceman Cometh in their Off-Broadway section.
http://www.theatermania.com/off-broadway/shows/

A lot of the info I just said could very well be wrong, so everyone is free to correct me

JBroadway Profile Photo
JBroadway
HogansHero Profile Photo
HogansHero
#3How are BAM, Kaye Playhouse, etc classified?
Posted: 2/27/15 at 10:20pm

There is no uniform rule. There are unions with rules; there are producer and theatre organizations with rules; there are award-givers with rules; media outlets have rules; and press agents often make up their own and different rules, and sometimes others pick them up. As a general proposition, and away from actually-labelled designations, most people use off-B to mean not-Broadway. There is never an issue as to what is Broadway, so it is pretty easy to identify what the "other" is. A lot of people would not call BAM, St Anns or any other non-Manhattan venue off-B, and the school venues (including Kaye) are also generally not lumped in (although there are exceptions-when Tony Randall's company did a show at Pace, it was off-B). Off-B is often used to refer to some <100 venues, but not others. And the only place that is inherently an AEA venue is Broadway. There can be non-Equity off-Broadway, and there are plenty of examples of that.

RippedMan Profile Photo
RippedMan
#4How are BAM, Kaye Playhouse, etc classified?
Posted: 2/28/15 at 12:42am

I think some would even lump the outer boroughs into the "regional" status.