Manhattan Ensemble Theatre ("MET") was an award-winning,“Obies: 2003 Award Winners”
''Village Voice''. Retrieved March 20, 2013.“League Presents Touring Broadway Awards Recognizing ‘Best of the Road’”
The Broadway League (press release). May 9, 2006. Retrieved March 20, 2013.

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

theatre company Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

from 1999 to 2007. The company was founded as an

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 th ...

Equity Equity may refer to: Finance, accounting and ownership *Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them ** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business ** Home equity, the diff ...

repertory company A repertory theatre is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation. United Kingdom Annie Horniman founded the first modern repertory theatre in Manchester after withdrawing ...

in 1999 by writer-producer

David Fishelson David J. Fishelson (born July 24, 1956) is an American producer, playwright, and director for film, theatre, television and radio, based in Manhattan since 1982. He is best known for being the lead producer of ''Golda's Balcony'', the longest-ru ...

with the stated mission of creating

theatrical adaptation In a theatrical adaptation, material from another artistic medium, such as a novel or a film is re-written according to the needs and requirements of the theatre and turned into a play or musical. Elision and interpolation Directors must make ar ...

s of stories found in

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a tradi ...

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the " news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (p ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

and

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...

. Simonson, Robert (February 21, 2001)
"New OB Company, Manhattan Ensemble Theatre, Bows with an 'Idiot', Feb. 21"
''Playbill''. Retrieved March 20, 2013.Winship, Frederick (January 31, 2002)
"Staging of Kafka's 'Castle' Scores Hit"
''UPI''. Retrieved March 20, 2013.

Production history

*2001: ''

The Idiot ''The Idiot'' ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Идиот, Idiót) is a novel by the 19th-century Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published serially in the journal ''The Russian Messenger'' in 1868–69. The title is an ...

'' *2002: Franz Kafka's '' The Castle'', '' The Golem'',Solomon, Alisa (April 7, 2002)
“A Jewish Avenger, A Timely Legend”
''New York Times''. Retrieved March 8, 2013. '' Death In Venice'' *2003: '' Hank Williams: Lost Highway'', ''

Golda's Balcony ''Golda's Balcony'' is a play by William Gibson. It follows the trajectory of the life of Golda Meir from Russian immigrant to American schoolteacher to a leader of international politics as the fourth Prime Minister of Israel. Much of its fo ...

'' (Off-Broadway) *2003-5: ''Golda's Balcony'' (on Broadway), '' 9 Parts of Desire'' *2005-6: ''Golda's Balcony'' (national tour)

Stars and transfers

In its short history, MET featured several well-known stars in its productions, including Jim Parsons ( CBS's ''

The Big Bang Theory ''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom served as executive producers on the series, along with Steven Molaro, all of whom also served as head writers. It premiered on CBS ...

''), Mireille Enos ( AMC's '' The Killing''), and

Robert Prosky Robert Prosky (born Robert Joseph Porzuczek, December 13, 1930 – December 8, 2008) was an American actor. He became a well-known supporting actor in the 1980s with his roles in '' Thief'' (1981), ''Christine'' (1983), ''The Natural'' (1984), an ...

(''

Hill Street Blues ''Hill Street Blues'' is an American serial police procedural television series that aired on NBC in prime-time from January 15, 1981, to May 12, 1987, for 146 episodes. The show chronicles the lives of the staff of a single police station loca ...

'', '' Broadcast News'', '' Dead Man Walking''). The 2003-4 season saw frequent transfers of shows from the 140-seat MET home, as described in ''

Playbill ''Playbill'' is an American monthly magazine for theatergoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most copies of ''Playbill'' are printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the show's p ...

'':

With ''Golda's Balcony'' (which opened at the Helen Hayes Theatre on Broadway on Oct. 15), MET has two hits based on the lives of renowned historical figures. Its first offering this season, ''Hank Williams: Lost Highway'', about the troubled country singer and composer, was hailed and quickly transferred following an extended run. It is currently playing the Little Shubert Off-Broadway. (In fact, the runaway success of MET's first two shows caused the nonprofit to postpone its third selection until the (2004-05) season.)

Awards, nominations, and reviews

From 2002 to 2006, MET earned 31 nominations (winning 11) from various theatre award agencies, including the Tony, the Drama Desk, the

Obie The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the ...

, the Outer Critics Circle, the

Lucille Lortel Lucille Lortel (née Wadler, December 16, 1900 – April 4, 1999) was an American actress, artistic director, and theatrical producer. In the course of her career Lortel produced or co-produced nearly 500 plays, five of which were nominated for ...

, the Drama League, the Blackburn Prize,2005 Finalists
Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Retrieved March 20, 2013. Time Out New York Magazine's Best in Theatre (4 times) and the Touring Broadway awards. Notable reviews came from

Anthony DeCurtis Anthony DeCurtis (born June 25, 1951) is an American author and music critic, who has written for ''Rolling Stone,'' the ''New York Times'', '' Relix'' and many other publications. Career DeCurtis is a contributing editor at ''Rolling Stone'', ...

in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' for ''Lost Highway'' ("I was genuinely surprised, even stunned ... by Hank Williams: Lost Highway. ... a rare achievement in any musical theater that I've ever seen"), from John Simon in ''

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker' ...

'' ("Golda's Balcony is the perfect merging of playwright, actress and character"), and from John Lahr for ''Nine Parts of Desire'' in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' ("An example of how art can remake the world").Lahr, John (November 8, 2004). "The Fury and the Jury: Women, and Men, Make Themselves Heard". ''The New Yorker''.

55 Mercer Street and sale of lease

The company was located in a 140-seat theatre in Manhattan's

SoHo Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was deve ...

neighborhood at 55 Mercer Street (corner of

Broome Street Broome Street is an east–west street in Lower Manhattan. It runs nearly the full width of Manhattan island, from Hudson Street in the west to Lewis Street in the east, near the entrance to the Williamsburg Bridge. The street is interrupted in ...

) until early 2007 when, according to ''The New York Times'',

The success of (MET's) show ''Golda's Balcony'' — and the time demanded by transferring the show to Broadway in 2003, then taking it on the road — had forced (Fishelson) ... to find someone to take over the 10 years remaining on his theater's lease.Robertson, Campbell (November 21, 2006)
"A Downtown Theater Company is Moving Even Farther South"
''New York Times''. Retrieved March 20, 2013.

In 2006, the Culture Project, a 10 year-old downtown nonprofit theater at the time, bought the remaining years on the 55 Mercer Street theater's lease.

References

External links

Manhattan Ensemble Theatre
{{Off-Broadway theatres Obie Award recipients Drama Desk Award winners Non-profit organizations based in New York City Performing groups established in 1999 1999 establishments in New York City Defunct Theatre companies in New York City