Off-B'way Update: A Sale, a Strike and a Scary Balance Sheet

Seaview has bought the
Tony Kiser Theater

Off-Broadway theater companies are in trouble. Following the COVID pandemic, audiences have been slow to return and as a result, companies are presenting fewer shows with smaller casts. Financial woes have contributed to several concerning developments. Second Stage has sold its Off-Broadway theater, the Tony Kiser (formerly a bank on W. 43rd Street) to Seaview, a principal producer of such Off-Broadway shows as Hold On to Me Darling, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, and the Barrow Street revival of Sweeney Todd. The 296-seat venue will be rebranded as Studio Seaview to present commercial Off-Broadway productions. The first production will be directed by Sam Gold (currently represented on Broadway by Romeo and Juliet) and will open in Spring 2025. This season Seaview is represented on Broadway by Stereophonic, Romeo and Juliet, All In, Once Upon a Mattress, Good Night and Good Luck, The Last Five Years, and in London by Slave Play and My Master Builder. 

Atlantic Theater Company

Atlantic Theater Company is suffering economic troubles of a different kind. The stage hands' union IATSE, recently went out on strike against the company. Atlantic's two current shows Grief Camp and I'm Assuming You Know David Greenspan, have been postponed indefinitely. A strike was called when negotiations between the union and the theater broke down. Negotiations started almost a year ago when Atlantic crew members voted to join the union which represents all Broadway shows and the Off-Broadway shows Titanique and Little Shop of Horrors as well as the Public and Vineyard Theaters. 

Signature's Pershing Center

Signature Theater Company is also experiencing fiscal and other struggles. Oscar winner Brendan Fraser has withdrawn for the company's upcoming production of Samuel D. Hunter's Grangeville (Fraser's Oscar win was for the film adaptation of Hunter's The Whale), "due to unforeseen circumstances." He will be replaced by six-time Drama Desk nominee Paul Sparks (At Home at the Zoo) who will play opposite Brian J. Smith (The Matrix Resurrections). In addition, Philip Boroff of Broadway Journal reports that Signature's auditors, Lutz and Carr, have "substantial doubt about the organization's ability to continue as a going concern." Lutz and Carr reports that Signature's net assets dropped $6.6 million or 17 percent in 2022-23. The company is presenting only three plays this season--Grangeville, Dominique Morriseau's Bad Kreyol (in a co-production with Manhattan Theater Club), and Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice. That's down from eight shows ten years ago.

According to Boroff, Signature will bolster its bottom line by renting out its stages to another company--Second Stage (see the first paragraph) which will present D.A. Mindel's On the Evolutionary Function of Shame at Signature's Irene Diamond Stage beginning Feb. 12 and Donald Marguiles' Lunar Eclipse there in May. The New Group also rents space from Signature. Such collaboration between companies may be the wave of the future for Off-Broadway theaters and their best bet to survive.