Second Stage Theater is a non-profit theater company that presents work by living American writers both on and off Broadway. It is based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, and is affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres.
24-610: Founded in 1979 by Robyn Goodman and Carole Rothman, Second Stage produces both new plays and revivals of contemporary American plays by new playwrights and established writers. The company formerly had an off-Broadway theater, the Tony Kiser Theater at 305 West 43rd Street on the corner of Eighth Avenue near the Theater District , as well as an off-off-Broadway theater, the McGinn–Cazale Theater on
48-422: A Musical ( Steven Levenson ), Best Original Score ( Pasek & Paul ), Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical ( Ben Platt ), Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical ( Rachel Bay Jones ), and Best Orchestrations ( Alex Lacamoire ), three 2009 Tony Awards for Next to Normal including Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical ( Alice Ripley ), Best Original Score Written for
72-509: A new outlet for "poets, playwrights, actors, songwriters, and designers. ... The first great Off-Broadway musical was the 1954 revival" of The Threepenny Opera , which proved that off-Broadway productions could be financially successful. Critic John Gassner argued at the time, however, that "Broadway is just as eclectic – and just as footless – as 'Off-Broadway'." Theatre Row , on West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues in Manhattan,
96-482: Is a concentration of off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway theatres. It was developed in the mid-1970s and modernized in 2002. Many off-Broadway shows have had subsequent runs on Broadway, including such musicals as Hair , Godspell , Little Shop of Horrors , Sunday in the Park with George , Rent , Grey Gardens , Urinetown , Avenue Q , The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee , Rock of Ages , In
120-555: Is a production of a play , musical , or revue that appears in such a venue and adheres to related trade union and other contracts. Some shows that premiere off-Broadway are subsequently produced on Broadway. The term originally referred to any venue, and its productions, on a street intersecting Broadway in Midtown Manhattan 's Theater District , the hub of the American theatre industry. It later became defined by
144-635: Is awarded every year. The Village Voice also awards annual Obie grants to selected companies; in 2011, these grants were $ 2,000 each to Metropolitan Playhouse and Wakka Wakka Productions . There is also a Ross Wetzsteon Grant, named after its former theater editor, in the amount of $ 2,000 (in 2009; in 2011 the grant was $ 1,000), for a theatre that nurtures innovative new plays. The first awards in 1955-1956 for plays and musicals were given to Absalom (Lionel Abel) as Best New Play, Uncle Vanya , Best All-Around Production and The Threepenny Opera as Best Musical. Other awards for off-Broadway theatre are
168-645: Is based on the capacity given for the respective theatre at the Internet Off-Broadway Database . Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by The Village Voice newspaper to theater artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City . Starting just after the 2014 ceremony, the American Theatre Wing became
192-600: The Lucille Lortel Award (created in 1985 by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres & Producers), and the Drama League Award . Although off-Broadway shows are not eligible for Tony Awards , an exception was made in 1956 (before the rules were changed), when Lotte Lenya won Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for the off-Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera . Capacity
216-916: The Lucille Lortel Awards , the Drama Desk Awards , the Drama League Award , and the Outer Critics Circle Awards . In September 2014, the American Theatre Wing joined the Village Voice as co-presenters, with the Wing having "overall responsibility for running" the Awards. In 2021, the Wing took over as sole presenter of the Obie Awards. Obie Grants are awarded each year to select theatre companies. Previous recipients include: Ross Wetzsteon Award
240-562: The Upper West Side . In April 2015, the company expanded into Broadway theater productions when it bought the Helen Hayes Theater , at 240 West 44th Street in Manhattan. Robyn Goodman and Carole Rothman founded Second Stage Theater in 1979 to produce “second stagings” of contemporary American plays, later expanding to new works as well. In 1982 they secured a permanent venue with the McGinn–Cazale Theater. In 1999,
264-667: The Broadway Box are the Laura Pels Theatre and The Theater Center . The off-Broadway movement started in the 1950s as a reaction to the perceived commercialism of Broadway and provided less expensive venues for shows that have employed many future Broadway artists. An early success was Circle in the Square Theatre 's 1952 production of Summer and Smoke by Tennessee Williams . According to theatre historians Ken Bloom and Frank Vlastnik, off-Broadway offered
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#1732790420092288-470: The Hayes Theater was Lobby Hero in early 2018, after renovations and upgrades. Second Stage is one of four nonprofit theater companies that own and operate theaters on Broadway. In 2023, Second Stage gave up its off-off-Broadway space. Founding artistic director and president Carole Rothman announced that September 2023 that she would resign from her position as Second Stage’s artistic director at
312-932: The Heights , Spring Awakening , Next to Normal , Hedwig and the Angry Inch , Fun Home , Hamilton , Dear Evan Hansen , Hadestown , and Kimberly Akimbo . In particular, two that became Broadway hits, Grease and A Chorus Line , encouraged other producers to premiere their shows off-Broadway. Plays that have moved from off-Broadway houses to Broadway include Doubt , I Am My Own Wife , Bridge & Tunnel , The Normal Heart , and Coastal Disturbances . Other productions, such as Stomp , Blue Man Group , Altar Boyz , Perfect Crime , Forbidden Broadway , Nunsense , Naked Boys Singing , Bat Boy: The Musical , and I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change have had runs of many years off-Broadway, never moving to Broadway. The Fantasticks ,
336-574: The League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers as a professional venue in Manhattan with a seating capacity of at least 100, but not more than 499, or a production that appears in such a venue and adheres to related trade union and other contracts. Previously, regardless of the size of the venue, a theatre was considered a Broadway (rather than off-Broadway) house if it was within the "Broadway Box", extending from 40th Street north to 54th Street and from Sixth Avenue west to Eighth Avenue , including Times Square and West 42nd Street . This change to
360-650: The Obies for Anna Deavere Smith 's Notes from the Field , seven Outer Critics Circle Awards , two Clarence Derwent Awards , 12 Drama Desk Awards , nine Theatre World Awards , 17 Lucille Lortel Awards, the Drama Critics' Circle Award and 23 AUDELCO Awards. In 2010 Next to Normal received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. In the following table, the seasons correspond to the year of the play's production;
384-459: The Theatre ( Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey ), and Best Orchestrations (Tom Kitt and Michael Starobin ), the 2007 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play ( Julie White ) for The Little Dog Laughed , 2002 Tony Award for Best Director of a Play ( Mary Zimmerman for Metamorphoses ), the 2002 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work, 28 Obie Awards including a 2017 Special Citation by
408-482: The ceremonies are traditionally held in the same or the following year as the production. Notes Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres , but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer than 100. An "off-Broadway production"
432-562: The company opened a new 296-seat venue, the 43rd Street Theater, designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas ; this location was renamed the Tony Kiser Theater in 2011. The Second Stage Theater Uptown series was inaugurated in 2002 to showcase the work of emerging artists at the McGinn–Cazale Theater at 76th Street. Second Stage finalized its acquisition of the Helen Hayes Theater , a 597-seat Broadway theater at 240 West 44th Street, in April 2015 for $ 24.7 million. The first Second Stage production at
456-462: The contractual definition of "off-Broadway" benefited theatres satisfying the 499-seat criterion because of the lower minimum required salary for Actors' Equity performers at Off-Broadway theatres as compared with the salary requirements of the union for Broadway theatres. The adoption of the 499-seat criterion occurred after a one-day strike in January 1974. Examples of off-Broadway theatres within
480-505: The end of the 2023–2024 season. In February 2024, Second Stage named Bennett Leak their interim artistic director for the 2024-25 season. Also in February 2024, Second Stage decided to let go of the Tony Kiser Theater, its off-Broadway space, at the end 2024, due to high rent and unfavorable lease terms. Second Stage plans to continue producing off-Broadway theater, and will reopen another off-Broadway space elsewhere. In June 2024, Evan Cabnet
504-627: The joint presenter and administrative manager of the Obie Awards. The Obie Awards are considered off-Broadway's highest honor, similar to the Tony Awards for Broadway productions. The Obie Awards were initiated by critic Jerry Tallmer and Edwin (Ed) Fancher, publisher of The Village Voice, who handled the financing and business side of the project. They were first given in 1956 under the direction of Tallmer. Initially, only off-Broadway productions were eligible; in 1964, off-off-Broadway productions were made eligible. The first Obie Awards ceremony
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#1732790420092528-681: The longest-running musical in theatre history, spent its original 42-year run off-Broadway and had another off-Broadway run from 2006 to 2017. Off-Broadway shows, performers, and creative staff are eligible for the following awards: the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award , the Outer Critics Circle Award , the Drama Desk Award , the Obie Award (presented since 1956 by The Village Voice ),
552-517: Was held at Helen Gee 's cafe. With the exception of the Lifetime Achievement and Best New American Play awards, there are no fixed categories at the Obie Awards, and the winning actors and actresses are all in a single category titled "Performance." There are no announced nominations. Awards in the past have included performance , direction , best production, design , special citations, and sustained achievement. Not every category
576-545: Was hired as Second Stage’s incoming artistic director in June 2024, succeeding Rothman. The company’s more than 180 citations include three 2024 Tony Awards for Appropriate ( Best Revival of a Play ; Best Actress in a Play , Sarah Paulson ; Best Lighting Design, Jane Cox), two 2022 Tony Awards for Take Me Out (Best Revival of a Play; Best Featured Actor in a Play , Jesse Tyler Ferguson ), six 2017 Tony Awards for Dear Evan Hansen including Best Musical , Best Book of
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