Donate to Out of the Box Theatrics in New York City

In the summer of 2023, I was given an opportunity to take over the former New Ohio Theatre. It was a HUGE transition. Everything I knew about making theatre consisted of figuring out where we were going to make it happen. After lockdown, figuring out the details of creating work was more complicated and I will be honest, I wasn’t sure I knew how to do it. Everything changed when I was given a little 80 seat theater on Christopher St. to rent and care for. I had very little support at that time, and I had a month to clean up this historic theater. I remember painting the dressing room by myself. So many folks donated time to help. Our now operations manager, Lindsay Fuori, volunteered to design the theater space with a 5K budget. I pulled together what I could to redo the bathroom dressing room, the theater risers, and light fixtures. An enormous task with a few bucks and a lot of heart made the reopening of 154 a success. 

I never could have imagined that our little black box that we named Theatre 154 would have such an impact. I had this dream that we would start our 2024 season nurturing artists and serve as a launching point for new works. I spent my days sending emails asking for support. That support paved the way for numerous artists and acclaim I never thought possible. We developed new works including TRASH, debuting at PACNYC in March 2026, and STARSTRUCK, that will have a full production at Bucks County Playhouse in February 2026. Our first mainstage production was Ryan Spahn’s brilliant horror comedy Inspired By True Events. It premiered at OOTB in July 2024 and has since been licensed by Concord Theatricals. To close out our season, we produced our beautiful labor of love, See What I Wanna See by the great Michael John LaChiusa with a genius concept by Emilio Ramos and Adam Rothenberg. The all-AAPI production was nominated for three Drama Desk Awards including Best Revival. We were granted an Obie at the top of 2025 for our 2024 Season. We really started to leave our mark on Theatre 154. 

In May 2025 I was informed that we had until January 2026 to vacate. While this news was heartbreaking, we have been given a new challenge taking over St. Luke’s Theatre in Midtown - a space that needs the same love as 154. We signed a 10-year lease to continue amplifying underrepresented voices and stories. 

2025 has been an enormous feat with unexpected twists and turns. Our small but mighty team of four tackled three main stage productions, two workshops, and one reading. These projects include a co-production of As Time Goes By with a one-month turnaround in association with Iceberg Productions, three Building the Box workshops with our friends Joey Parnes, Janet Brenner, and Laura Ivey, and finally, Beau the Musical, written by Douglas Lyons and Ethan D. Pakchar, with Bryan McCaffrey. Beau closed out our time at Theatre 154 while opening our new home at St. Luke’s Theatre. 

Your caring and support has gotten us here. We have tackled the impossible with your help. We are determined to keep the work going and our industry honest. Through our mission, we will continue to help nurture every artist and story’s future. I hope as we grow, you will continue to support us through your patronage, a small donation, or if you have donated in the past, consider giving us a little more this holiday season. We have a lot of work to do and we simply can’t do it without you. 

Thank you for supporting small non-profit theatre and we look forward to what’s next in our new home on 46th. 

Liz Flemming 

Founding Producing Artistic Director 

OOTB is an Off-Broadway not-for-profit committed to lifting the voices of marginalized communities through the stories we tell. We produce intimate experiences for artists and audiences by shifting the perspective of existing works and providing a platform for new material.

Elizabeth Flemming, a legally blind actor and producer, started Out of the Box Theatrics in 2015 to create an intentional space for other artists who had been historically underrepresented, undervalued, and overlooked. At its inception, OOTB was designed to create immersive, site-specific storytelling experiences that were as varied as the multitude of artists it employed in order to create a more inclusive and equitable theatre industry.

Over its ten years of operation OOTB has performed in coffee shops and abandoned storefronts, on playgrounds, in apartments, and just about any space you can imagine. As the company has grown, the mission has expanded to supporting artists through the full developmental process of a piece.

In the fall of 2023, OOTB found it’s first home at 154 Christopher Street, in the former home of The New Ohio. With the acquisition of a physical space, OOTB has expanded its mission yet again to include supporting artists through access to affordable space. OOTB is produced a full season of shows, readings, and community events at 154, while also partnering with numerous organizations and independent artists to hold space for as many creatives as we can. 

In May 2025 we were informed that we had until January 2026 to vacate our downtown space. While this news was heartbreaking, we have been given a new challenge taking over St. Luke’s Theatre - a space that needs the same love as 154. We signed a 10-year lease to continue amplifying underrepresented voices and stories.