A Short History of Roundabout Theatre Company

A Bright Idea

Gene Feist and his wife, actress Elizabeth Owens, conceived the idea of the non-profit Roundabout Theatre Company in 1965. Feist wanted to do classic plays by authors like Ibsen and Shaw and thought that a subscription series at an affordable price would be of interest to New Yorkers. Roundabout's first production of Strindberg's The Father was presented in a 150-seat theatre in the basement of a supermarket in Chelsea. In that first season, the company had four hundred subscribers who paid only $5.00 for three plays.

In 1974, with a growing reputation for good productions of classic plays, Roundabout moved and converted a 299-seat movie theatre on 23rd Street, calling it Roundabout Stage One. For the next ten years, both the new and the original, called Roundabout Stage Two, presented plays that attracted well-known actors such as Kim Hunter, Vincent Price, Irene Worth, Tammy Grimes, Malcolm McDowell, and Philip Bosco.

While Roundabout was growing in leaps and bounds artistically, the company was struggling financially, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1978. By 1983, the company had an accumulated $2.5 million deficit on a $1.5 million budget. Todd Haimes, a 26 year-old recent Yale School of Management graduate, came on board as Managing Director. Just two weeks later, the Board voted to close the theatre due to such seemingly insurmountable financial troubles. Board member Christian C. Yegen was not ready to throw in the towel, however; he and his family agreed to write checks to cover the payroll, giving Haimes the time and staff he needed to turn the theatre's bleak financial picture around. Within two years, Roundabout emerged from Chapter 11 protection.

In 1984, Roundabout was forced out of its 23rd Street home and moved once again, this time to Union Square. The company converted Tammany Hall into a 499-seat theatre. During the $1 million renovation, Roundabout staged its most acclaimed production up to that time, Peter Nichols' A Day in the Death of Joe Egg starring Jim Dale and Stockard Channing. The production moved to Broadway where it won the 1985 Tony®, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Revival. Roundabout's growth continued with the opening of the 17th Street Theatre on January 30, 1985 with The Playboy of the Western World, starring Kate Burton and Ken Marshall.

The Broadway Years

In 1989, Gene Feist retired and Todd Haimes, who had served as Managing Director since 1983, was appointed Artistic Director. During the five extraordinary years that followed, Roundabout's productions were nominated for 79 awards, including Tonys®, Drama Desks, Outer Critics Circle and Olivier Awards.

Since Roundabout's lease on the 17th Street Theatre was year-to-year, Haimes began the search for a permanent home for Roundabout. In October 1991, Roundabout opened the doors of its new Broadway home at the Criterion Center on West 45th Street with Harold Pinter's The Homecoming. That same season, Roundabout inaugurated its innovative Theatre-Plus program with the Singles Series, designed to enhance the theatre-going experience with special subscriber events and discussions. It was a groundbreaking program that eventually expanded to feature an early curtain series, a wine tasting series, a gay and lesbian series, and a program for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, the Sign Interpreted Series, among many others. These programs would later be adopted by arts organizations around the country and in London.

By 1993, Roundabout was enjoying tremendous artistic success. Critically acclaimed productions, such as Friedrich Durrenmatt's The Visit with Jane Alexander and Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie starring Natasha Richardson and Liam Neeson, graced the Roundabout stage. Anna Christie, in particular, was monumental for Roundabout. It won the 1993 Tony, Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards for Best Revival and solidified Roundabout's reputation for artistic excellence.

Later that season, Haimes broke new ground by expanding the theatre's mission to produce what he called, "the classic American art form," the musical. Roundabout introduced its Great American Musical series with the theatre's first musical, She Loves Me, directed by Scott Ellis and choreographed by Rob Marshall. The production successfully transferred to Broadway before being produced in London, where it received five Olivier awards. As enthusiasm and critical acclaim for the theatre grew, so did the company's subscription audience, now totaling 26,000.

A New Stage

In 1994, Roundabout jumped at the chance to transform the cabaret space next to its mainstage theatre at the Criterion Center into an intimate, state-of-the-art off-Broadway theatre. With the extraordinary support of Laura Pels and Cory and Bob Donnalley, Roundabout began an intensive renovation effort to create a home for new works, as well as lesser-known works from the classic canon. The new 399-seat Laura Pels Theatre opened on September 27, 1995 with the American premiere of Harold Pinter's Moonlight, starring Jason Robards and Blythe Danner. Roundabout also saw another major landmark in September 1995 when the theatre successfully retired its deficit.

Roundabout was honored to refer to Robards as its "artist-in-residence" during the Laura Pels Theatre inaugural year. That same year, Robards joined Roundabout's Board of Directors, along with his No Man's Land co-star, Christopher Plummer. In Robards' memory and in honor of his unique contributions to the American theatre, Roundabout introduced its Jason Robards Award for Excellence in Theatre in 2001. Plummer was honored as the first recipient. In 2004, Roundabout awarded this recognition to the songwriting team of John Kander and Fred Ebb of Cabaret fame.

Between 1995 and 1999, Roundabout staged ten productions in the Laura Pels Theatre. Classic works by Shaw and Molière were offset by contemporary classics by Miller and Pinter. New works also had their world, American, and New York premieres at the Laura Pels Theatre, including the world premiere of Beth Henley's Impossible Marriage (1998) the American premieres of Harold Pinter's Moonlight (1995) and Brian Friel's Molly Sweeney (1995), and the New York premiere of Paula Vogel's The Mineola Twins (1999).

Reaching Out

By the mid-1990s, Roundabout had already become well-known for its innovative education programs. In 1996, these programs expanded significantly under the leadership of Roundabout's first full-time education director. Roundabout initiated residencies for teaching artists in the public schools (Page to Stage) while offering teachers in-house professional development programs.

Roundabout's education efforts soon deepened to include long-term, multiple classroom partnerships with individual schools (Producing Partners). This laid the groundwork for Roundabout's most in-depth partnership with the New York City Department of Education, the creation of three new small high schools that opened in 2003 and 2004. Further, the company created a career development program for college students and graduates interested in theatre-related careers.

Overwhelming Success

Roundabout's success continued as critically acclaimed productions of 1776 and A View from the Bridge both transferred from Roundabout's Stage Right to the Gershwin and Brooks Atkinson Theatres, respectively, on Broadway. For the first time, Roundabout mounted an off-site production, transforming the Henry Miller Theatre into the seedy Berlin Kit Kat Klub for its groundbreaking production of Cabaret. It then transferred to the legendary Studio 54 in November of 1998. Cabaret had a glorious six year run after winning six Tonys® and marked the New York directorial debuts of future Oscar winners Sam Mendes (American Beauty) and Rob Marshall (Chicago, the movie).

Roundabout continued its work on Broadway with Little Me starring Martin Short, The Lion In Winter starring Laurence Fishburne and Stockard Channing, and The Rainmaker starring Woody Harrelson. Roundabout's subscribers now numbered an astounding 45,000.

Coming Home

The dramatic revitalization and rising costs of Times Square forced Roundabout out of its home at the Criterion Center. The New 42nd Street project needed a non-profit theatre to move into the vacant Selwyn Theatre on West 42nd Street, thus providing Roundabout with the perfect location for a permanent mainstage home. Roundabout embarked on a $24 million capital campaign to restore and renovate the Selwyn into a state-of-the-art Broadway theatre. The campaign was fueled by the extraordinarily generous support of the City and State of New York, as well as Roundabout's many loyal individual, corporate, and foundation donors.

In 2000, Roundabout announced that the Selwyn would be renamed the American Airlines Theatre in recognition of an unprecedented corporate partnership. With restored murals and theatre boxes, excellent acoustics and sight lines and a complete restoration of original ornamental plasterwork, the new theatre held its first performance on June 30, 2000. The inaugural production, Kaufman and Hart's The Man Who Came To Dinner, starred Nathan Lane and Jean Smart and was directed by Jerry Zaks. The American Airlines Theatre has since hosted such acclaimed productions as Harold Pinter's Betrayal, Major Barbara, The Women, Big River and Twentieth Century.

Breaking New Ground

Although Roundabout had found a permanent mainstage home, it had not yet secured a home for the Laura Pels Theatre. A temporary solution was found in the Gramercy Theatre on 23rd Street, to which Roundabout moved the Laura Pels Theatre season between 1999 and 2002. Roundabout produced eleven plays at the Gramercy including works by Neil Simon, Harold Pinter, Sean O'Casey, Charles Randolph-Wright, Edward Albee, Martin McDonagh, and others.

In 2002, Roundabout's search for a permanent home for the Laura Pels Theatre came to an end with the signing of a long-term lease on the former American Place Theatre. The lead support of the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust made possible a major renovation of the new theatre center, now known as the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre. The marquee on the theatre center was first lit on February 26, 2004, and the new Laura Pels Theatre opened several weeks later with Lynn Nottage's award-winning play, Intimate Apparel.

Wilkommen

Meanwhile, Roundabout had fallen in love with Studio 54. The funky, unique theatre had originally been built as the Gallo Opera House in 1927 but had not housed live theatre productions since the early 1940s. Best known for its life as the infamous nightclub of the 1970s and 1980s, Studio 54 was an ideal home for Cabaret, and Roundabout decided that the space could be a perfect location in which to stage future musical productions. Roundabout moved forward with negotiations to purchase the space.

An unprecedented $6.75 million appropriation from the City of New York made possible the $22.5 million purchase. After two years of negotiations, Roundabout closed on the property on July 23, 2003. When Roundabout's production of Cabaret closed in January 2004, the long-awaited production of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's musical Assassins became the first production in the space under Roundabout's ownership. The production, directed by Joe Mantello, won five Tony Awards® in that year, including Best Revival of a Musical.

The Next Frontier

Now that Roundabout has settled into three permanent homes, the next step is to upgrade these facilities to accommodate artists and theatregoers more comfortably. Thanks to the leadership of Roundabout's Board of Directors and the support of Roundabout's subscribers and generous donors, the company has established three permanent homes, each of which is distinctive and fulfills a different aspect of the company's mission.

The Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre remains a work in progress, with another $1 million still needed to finish the renovations and complete the Black Box Theatre on the lowest level of the complex. The Black Box will provide a very intimate performance and rehearsal space for Roundabout artists and for New York City public school students in Roundabout's arts education programs.

At Studio 54, Roundabout has begun a five-year renovation effort expected to total $10 million. Since the theatre was never fully outfitted when Cabaret quickly relocated to the space in 1998, there is significant work to be done to bring the theatre up to modern standards. As funds are raised, Roundabout will make these very necessary renovations. One of the most exciting elements of Roundabout's plans for the theatre is to transform the space into a flexible seating theatre, giving directors the option to stage productions for a traditional orchestra configuration or one using cabaret tables.

Over the last forty years, Roundabout has grown from a small, off-Broadway theatre into one of the leading cultural institutions in New York City. Roundabout is proud to serve New Yorkers and tourists alike, bringing to the stage a special combination of plays and musicals, both classical and contemporary, which contribute immeasurably to the cultural life of our city and our country. Roundabout's work has reached national audiences through PBS broadcasts of its productions of The Man Who Came to Dinner and The Women. Through such live broadcasts, as well as national tours, cast recordings, education and outreach programs, and its work on three stages, Roundabout touches the lives of millions of theatregoers, students, and artists across the country

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