Theaters of the East Village with Laurence Frommer

Join urbanist/cultural historian Laurence Frommer for a tour focused on the history and development of Off and Off-Off Broadway theaters in the East Village. The emergence of Off-Broadway - a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499 - started as a reaction in the post-war years to the perceived commercialism of Broadway. This fertile breeding ground, away from the pressures of commercial production and critical brickbats, helped give a leg up to hundreds of future Broadway shows, actors, and other theater professionals. However Off Broadway was soon criticized for the same reason that Broadway was, and within a decade the theater world gave rise to Off-Off Broadway, which denotes venues with fewer than 100 seats, and for many years was associated with avant-guard and experimental works. Stops on the tour may include Theatre 80, The Public Theater, Theater for The New City, LaMaMa, the former Bouwerie Lane Theater, and vestiges of the once vibrant Yiddish Theater. Cost: $30 / $20 Members.