Photo from 2008; the theatre was on left side of building
|
|
Address | 1st theatre: 58 East 14th St. 2nd theatre: 100 East 17th St. New York City |
---|---|
Coordinates | 40°44′11″N 73°59′20″W / 40.73639°N 73.98889°WCoordinates: 40°44′11″N 73°59′20″W / 40.73639°N 73.98889°W |
Type | Broadway / Off-Broadway |
Capacity | Unknown / 499 |
Opened | 1870 / 1985 |
Closed | 1936 / January 3, 2016 |
Union Square Theatre was the name of two different theatres in New York City near Union Square. The first was a Broadway theatre that opened in 1870, was converted into a cinema in 1921 and closed in 1936. The second was an Off-Broadway theatre that opened in 1985 and closed in 2016.
The first theatre with this name in New York City was located at 58 East 14th Street. It opened in 1870 and played a mixture of plays and operettas. It staged Oscar Wilde's first play, Vera; or, The Nihilists. After 1883, it hosted vaudeville as part of the Keith-Albee-Orpheum circuit. In 1921, it was renamed the Acme Theatre and converted into a cinema that eventually showed Soviet films and closed in 1936.
The second theatre was located at 100 East 17th Street, Manhattan, in the former Tammany Hall building, built in 1929. It opened in 1985, and its last owner was Liberty Theatres On January 3, 2016, the theater was closed as part of a complete renovation of the building, including the planned demolition of the theatre. Its longest-running productions were Slava's Snowshow, for 28 months, and Wit, for 18 months. Its final production was The 39 Steps.
(Source: Internet Off-Broadway Database)