| The
Cherry Lane Theatre is one of Manhattan's oldest Off-Broadway
theaters. Photo:
Andy Glockner |
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Tucked
away on a quiet corner of Commerce Street is the oldest continuously running
Off-Broadway theater in New York. If only people could find The Cherry
Lane Theatre.
There are
no signs on Seventh Avenue South to point theatergoers in the right direction,
unlike the 1950's when a brick wall facing the busy thoroughfare was painted
with the theater's logo and a large arrow to direct the crowds to Commerce
Street. Advertisements dating back to its beginnings in 1924 have
had to add that the playhouse is three blocks south of Sheridan Square.
"Even
people that live around here don't know the theater is there," said
Faye Armon, audience director at The Cherry Lane. "People always
have trouble finding it. It's just tucked away in this little magical
neighborhood."
As hard as
it can be to find, The Cherry Lane Theatre has produced plays by some
of the most well-known and critically acclaimed American playwrights and
actors. Still looking a bit like the farm building it once was,
the theater has played host to the likes of Sam Shepard's "True West"
in 1987, Samuel Beckett's "Happy Days" in 1961, Edward Albee's
"The American Dream" in 1960 and F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The
Vegetable" in 1926. It is a theater aficionado's theater, attracting
actors, directors, producers and playwrights through its cherry red doors
and velvet curtains, onto a small wooden stage that has seen the evolution
of the last 78 years of theater.
Housed in an 1817 farm silo and one-time box factory, The Cherry Lane's
stage has been walked by James Earl Jones, Tyne Daly, Kevin Bacon, Gene
Hackman, Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Olympia Dukakis, John Malkovich and
Gary Sinise. Its Mentoring and Master's Class programs are supported
by two of the most outstanding arts programs in the country - Yale School
of Drama and The Juilliard School. The theater saw the birth of
the Living Theatre and Theatre of the Absurd, as plays for these movements
were premiered and showcased at The Cherry Lane.
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| The
Cherry Lane Theatre celebrate its 75th anniversay in 1999. Photo:
The Cherry Lane Theatre |
Founded in 1924
by the poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, scenic designer Cleon Throckmorton,
and a group of intellectuals, artists and writers, The Cherry Lane became
known as a place from which new talent emerged. Over the years, 38
Commerce Street housed companies like the Lenox Hill Players, Paul and Virginia
Gilmore's Mystery Theater and the Jitney Vagabond Players. The theater
was bought in 1996 by the Little Goddess, Inc., which also maintains The
Jose Quintero Theatre on 42nd Street.
In 1997, the company started the Cherry Lane Alternative Theatre, a non-profit
organization. Headed by artistic director
Angelina Fiordellisi, the studio theater furthers the theater's long-held
mission to discover, nurture and produce new talent.
The Mentoring
Project, which pairs three selected new playwrights with seasoned professionals
for a year-long process of working toward a showcase production, is the
organization's cornerstone. Some of the plays, such as "Saint
Lucy's Eyes" by Bridgette Wimberly, have moved on to other theaters.
But even for those whose plays will not move on, The Cherry Lane provides
a starting point, a place where new voices can be heard and new forms
of theater can be experimented.
"Sure
Broadway has 'The Producers' and 'Mama Mia.' Occasionally, it will
have a really great play," Armon said. "But generally,
in Off-Broadway, The Cherry Lane included, we're able to experiment more
and to hear new voices and try new things. And possibly, maybe get
someone to think out there."
Aspiring
playwright Carmen Pelaez, who already wrote and produced a one-woman play
in Miami, came on a February night to The Cherry Lane Studio's Master
Class program to hear Wendy Wasserstein, author of "The Heidi Chronicles"
and "The Sisters Rosensweig." Palaez, who has lived in
New York for 10 years, hoped to find some secret to the trade - to break
through and get to a place where she could sustain her love of moving
people through words.
"I want
an insight that will help in the process of creating something in the
hopes that it outlives you and doesn't die in your drawer," said
Palaez, 31. "It's a lot easier to fail, because then you can
validate it to no end and then it's a success. When you're a success,
it's hard to maintain. I guess I've had my 15 minutes of fame and
it was not nearly enough for me."
Wasserstein,
after hearing about the play at the Master Class meeting, told Pelaez
to submit it for the Mentor Project and to try again at some of the places
she had tried the first time around. The Pulitzer Prize-winning
playwright rattled off other advice for the novice - "Find a smart
producer," "It's your play," "Find the right place
to do theater."
For many, that advice has led back to The Cherry Lane, where the people
who run it are bound and determined by their mission statement to provide
a nurturing environment for young artists and a great theater experience
for those watching. And if the theater company can just get people
to the hidden playhouse without getting them lost or turned around, they
might just last another 78 years.
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