The Theater Center (known as The Snapple Theater Center until 2016) is 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 tha ...

theater on 50th Street in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, New York City. It has two stages.

History

The complex was built by actress and producer Catherine Russell in partnership with Snapple, marking Off-Broadway's first such corporate sponsorship. It opened as the Snapple Theater Center on May 22, 2006, with Wendy Kaufman, "the Snapple Lady," ceremonially lighting the marquee. Long-running play '' Perfect Crime'' (starring Russell) transferred to the Theater Center upon the facility's opening, and a revival of ''

The Fantasticks ''The Fantasticks'' is a 1960 musical with music by Harvey Schmidt and book and lyrics by Tom Jones. It tells an allegorical story, loosely based on the 1894 play ''The Romancers'' (''Les Romanesques'') by Edmond Rostand, concerning two ne ...

'' was mounted that summer. In 2007, the space in which ''The Fantasticks'' was performed was named in honor of actor

Jerry Orbach Jerome Bernard Orbach (October 20, 1935 – December 28, 2004) was an American actor and singer, described at the time of his death as "one of the last'' bona fide'' leading men of the Broadway theatre, Broadway musical and global celebrity on te ...

, who starred as El Gallo in that show's original production in 1960. The Fantasticks closed in June 2017. In 2012, the other space was named for producer Anne L. Bernstein. In May 2016, the theater dropped "Snapple" from its name and became "The Theater Center". Various other productions came to the Jerry Orbach thereafter. In April 2021, ''Perfect Crime'' was the first live stage production in New York City to receive approval from Actors' Equity to resume performances after theatres were shuttered due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In January, 2022, thieves stole copper pipes from the building, disabling the plumbing and heating and necessitating the cancellation of twelve performances of ''Perfect Crime''. , ''Perfect Crime'' continues its run in the space.

Facilities

It is a state of the art entertainment center consisting of two theaters with a total seating capacity of 398, rehearsal studios, contemporary lobbies, WiFi, two bars with cabaret-style seating and two merchandise stands. There are two stages, the Anne L. Bernstein Theater and the Jerry Orbach Theater.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Theater Center, The Theatres in Manhattan Off-Broadway theaters Theatres completed in 2006 Keurig Dr Pepper Midtown Manhattan