Bated Breath Theatre Company to Open New Theater Space On 14th Street
The space will serve as a hub for immersive performance, training and bold new works that live at the intersection of theater, dance, film, and more.
Bated Breath Theatre Company, in conjunction with the New York Center for Immersive Theater, will open its first long-term home, on 14th Street in the heart of Manhattan. The new Bated Breath Theatre is a versatile and intimate white box performance space at 39 W. 14th Street New York NY 10011 that will serve as a hub for immersive performance, training and bold new works that live at the intersection of theater, dance, film, spoken word and performance art.
The inaugural production in the new Bated Breath Theatre will be the October 2025 world premiere of Dirty Books, an immersive experience that plunges audiences into the scandalous and surprisingly cerebral world of the 1960s soft-core adult publishing industry. Based on the true stories of erotic fiction writers of the era, Dirty Books reveals the ingenuity and resilience of artists who thrived in the shadows of America's anti-obscenity laws. Each night, participants will also help craft a new erotic text, created live in the room and published online after each show.
"This new space gives us the freedom to create exactly the kind of immersive, daring work Bated Breath is known for," says Artistic Director Mara Lieberman. "ChaShaMa generously gave us the seed of something beautiful when they donated temporary space to us earlier this year. Now, in this new home, we're growing it into a vibrant ecosystem for daring, participatory work that will bring audiences into the heart of the creative process."
In addition to classes, rehearsals, workshops and nurturing other artists to develop new projects, the new Bated Breath Theatre off Union Square will also host:
• Shut Up and Eat Your Poetry, a monthly devising slam where directors and designers are given a single poem and just one day to turn it into an original, immersive performance. Equal parts theatrical bake-off and creative high-wire act, the Slam celebrates risk, immediacy, and collaboration.
• Viewpoints&..., a series offering a fresh take on the Viewpoints practice that invites artists from non-theater disciplines to join in spontaneous, cross-pollinating improvisations.
• Immersive Sleep Overs series, where night owls are invited to gather for rare screenings of archival immersive theater films, followed by lively, late-night conversations and explorations into the past, present, and future of the form.
• Salons with invited guests in the field.
Bated Breath Theatre Company, under the Artistic direction of Mara Lieberman, is best known for its award-winning immersive production Voyeur: The Windows of Toulouse-Lautrec, named "one of the best theatre experiences of the year" by Time Out New York, as well as other site-specific works -- including Chasing Andy Warhol, Unmaking Toulouse-Lautrec, and Beneath The Gavel -- that redefine the relationship between audience and performance.
For more information, visit www.batedbreaththeatre.org.
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