Theaterama (adapted from) | |
Queens Theatre to the left/foreground and the World's Fair Pavilion on the right/background
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Address |
Flushing Meadows–Corona Park Flushing, New York United States |
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Coordinates | 40°44′38.98″N 73°50′39.92″W / 40.7441611°N 73.8444222°WCoordinates: 40°44′38.98″N 73°50′39.92″W / 40.7441611°N 73.8444222°W |
Type | Regional theater |
Construction | |
Opened | 1964 |
Architect | Philip Johnson and Richard Foster |
Website | |
queenstheatre.org |
The Queens Theatre in the Park is an American community theatre, located in the Queens borough of New York City, New York.
Adapted from the former Theaterama at the 1964 New York World's Fair, the theater was part of Philip Johnson's (then six million dollar) construction project that also included observation towers and an open-air pavilion called the "Tent of Tomorrow". The theater was originally decorated with the artworks including those of Andy Warhol and Robert Indiana. The site had also hosted the 1939 New York World's Fair.
The theater is next to the Unisphere at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, an area that also includes Citi Field, the Queens Museum of Art, and the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Johnson and Richard Foster designed the original theater. The audience stood and viewed a travelog of New York State projected on screens lining the inside of the circular room. The showing of a cycloramic (360 degrees) film about New York State was a tribute to the world fair's host city.
The circular theater closed in 1985. A $4 million project converted it into a 476-seat community theater, designed by architect Alfredo De Vido, opened in 1993. The conversion was a "wonderful success" according to Queens Borough President Claire Shulman, who said she was an attendee at the 1939 World's Fair (held at the same site) as a little girl.