New Performance Space East Village Playhouse Opens Downtown

A brand new performance space has opened in the downtown theatre scene, the East Village Playhouse (340 East 6th St) now occupies the former music shop Tribal Soundz. A destination for thriving and aspiring musicians and recording artists, the shop shuttered in 2008. Now the once vacant East 6th Street storefront has been revived for the first time in a decade as the East Village Playhouse, an arts destination. Opening on Thursday, February 15, 2018, the New York premiere of A Brooklyn Boy is the debut production, playing alongside the recently announced extension of The Bench.

The 50 seat East Village Playhouse was founded by Laurie Meadoff, founder and president of CityKids, and board member and theatre producer Don Hoffman as an answer to the lack of theater spaces for up and coming artists. By day, the new venue houses CityKids, a 33-year-old organization where youth turn their pain into purpose and become artists and agents of social change, and by night it is home to culturally relevant plays and musicals produced and performed by local artists.

The East Village Playhouse joins neighborhood theatrical giants like La Mama, Theater for the New City, Performance Space New York (formerly PS122), New York Theatre Workshop, STOMP and The Public Theater to bring needle pushing live theatre and cutting-edge artistic development programs to one of New York's most exciting artistic communities. For more information visit EastVillagePlayhouse.com.

"CityKids has a long history of creating socially relevant theatrical pieces for all media outlets and we are so happy to have our new home-base in the East Village to nurture new works," said Meadoff.

"With the closing of so many small theaters all over New York City, it is incredibly challenging for up and coming productions and readings to find a home for their important work," said Hoffman. "I hope that the East Village Playhouse will be home to many developing artists over the years to come. We are thrilled to inaugurate the theatre with A Brooklyn Boy and The Bench."

Performances for A Brooklyn Boy run Thursdays and Fridays at 7pm, and Saturdays at 2pm and 7pm. Tickets are $40 and available through OvationTIx.com. The Bench extended its New York run with performances every Friday at 9pm through April 13th at the East Village Playhouse. Tickets are $39.00, can be purchased at TheBenchPlay.com or by calling 866-811-4111.

EastVillagePlayhouse.com

Founded by Laurie Meadoff in 1985, The CityKids Foundation has established and maintained cutting edge youth development programs, training tens of thousands of diverse young people, by providing opportunities for personal growth, leadership, and artistic expression. Their programs include the CityKids Repertory Company, "an intensive audition-based performance program that combines training in performing arts disciplines with a unique leadership development model."

A Brooklyn Boy is a riveting one man show that tells Steven Prescod's coming-of-age story of growing up in Brooklyn's Bedford Stuyvesant, where he struggled to break free from his neighborhood's unyielding grip. While facing a seven-year jail sentence, Steven could have been another statistic, but was given a second chance at life. After being discovered three years ago by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, A Brooklyn Boy makes its New York debut at the East Village Playhouse.

After nine straight sold out weeks at Off Broadway's Cherry Lane Theatre, The Bench starring Robert Galinsky and marking the New York directorial debut of Jay O. Sanders, extended the New York run at the East Village Playhouse. The Bench is presented by Golden Globe nominee Chris Noth, Drama Desk, Obie and Olivier Award winner Barry Shabaka Henley, and is produced by Tony Award winning producer Terry Schnuck. Based on true stories and real people, The Bench, set in urban decay and rubble, explores the emotional heartbreak of five homeless characters and the catastrophic hysteria surrounding AIDS in the 1980's. "If you enjoy the work of Anna Deavre Smith or 'Humans of New York' you're in for a treat!" Theater is Easy

Photo Credit: Jane Feldman