Theatre Row (New York City)

Theatre Row is an entertainment district of Off Broadway theatres on 42nd Street in the Midtown and Hell's Kitchen neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, west of Ninth Avenue. The space originally referred to a 1977 redevelopment project to convert adult entertainment venues into theatres between Ninth and Tenth Avenues on the south side of 42nd Street. However with the success of the district the name is often used to describe any theatre on either side of the street from Ninth Avenue to the Hudson River as more theatres have been built along the street.

From east to west, theatres along Theatre Row are:

• Laurie Beechman Theatre
• Theatre Row Building
• Playwrights Horizons
• Stage 42 (formerly the Little Shubert Theatre)
• Pershing Square Signature Center
• Castillo Theatre
• Pearl Theatre

Original 1977 theatres

Theatre Row was first established in 1977 in conjunction with the 42nd Street Development Corporation in an effort to convert adult entertainment venues into Off Broadway theatres. The first theatres involved in 1977 were:

• Black Theatre Alliance
• Harlem Children's Theatre
• INTAR Theatre (now on 52nd Street)
• Lion Theatre (now commemorated by a theatre in the Theatre Row Building)
• Nat Horne Musical Theatre
• Playwrights Horizons
• Harold Clurman Theatre (now commemorated by a theatre in the Theatre Row Building)
• South Street Theatre

Further reading

• Bianco, Anthony (2004). Ghosts of 42nd Street: A History of America's Most Infamous Block. New York: HarperCollins Books, ISBN 0-688-17089-7.

References