Broadway and Beyond: New York's Best Theaters

As people around the world celebrate the abundant talent of New York’s writers, directors and actors, the spaces that provide the stage for this talent often go unnoticed. And that’s a good thing: after all, good theater space will be invisible, never taking the audience’s attention away from the action on stage with bad acoustics or confusing layout.

Nevertheless, the space is crucial to any play’s success. Fortunately, New York is full of great theater spaces, from stately turn-of-the-century beauties to cozy makeshift stages.

Actors Playhouse
100 7th Avenue South
New York, NY 10014
(212) 463-0060

Located in the heart of Manhattan’s West Village, the small and comfortable 150-seat Actors Playhouse has grown to become the center of gay and lesbian culture and experimental theater. It has hosted such great plays as Naked Boys Singing, Marijuana-Logues, and the one-man performance from Fraser’s openly gay actor Dan Butler, The Only Thing Worse You Could’ve Told Me.

The Flea
41 White Street
New York, NY 10013
(212) 226-0051

This theater, tucked away in a small townhouse just minutes away from the site of the World Trade Center, served as a fitting venue for the long-running play The Guys, celebrating the lives of New York City’s firefighters who died on the morning of September 11th, 2001. The tiny room has no stage: the actors perform on the floor, while the small 20-plus audience sits in rows of chairs lined along one of the walls. This living-room theater experience only adds to the impact of The Flea’s experimental and often hard-hitting plays: the audience gets to see every nuance of every performance, feeling the actors’ joy and sadness, rage and ecstasy.

Public Space 122
150 1st Avenue
New York, NY 10009
(212) 477-5829