Fourteenth Street Theatre

The Lyceum Theatre c.1871, from a stereoscopic image
General information
Architectural style	Neoclassical architecture
Location	Manhattan, New York, US
Coordinates	40°44′16″N73°59′50″W / 40.73778°N 73.99722°W / 40.73778; -73.99722
Opened	1866
Demolished	1938
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Alexander Saeltzer

The theatre in 1936 with fire escapes added, photographed by Berenice Abbott

The Fourteenth Street Theatre was a theatre located at 107 West 14th Street just west of Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City. ^[1]

History

It was designed by Alexander Saeltzer and opened in 1866 as the Theatre Français, as a home for French language dramas and opera. ^[2]

The theatre was renamed the Lyceum in 1871. In 1879, it was taken over by producer J.H. Haverly, who renamed it Haverly's 14th Street Theatre. By the mid-1880s, it had become simply the Fourteenth Street Theatre. ^[3]

By the mid-1910s, it was being used as a movie theatre. Actress Eva Le Gallienne made it the home of her stage company, renaming it the Civic Repertory Theatre in 1926. She conducted acting classes and mounted 34 successful productions at the theatre, ^[4] but the Great Depression ended that venture in 1934. ^[5]

The building was demolished in 1938. ^{[6] [7]}

Selected productions

14th Street Theatre

• Sam'l of Posen; or, The Commercial Drummer (1881) ^[8]
• Evangeline! (1885–1886) (252 perf.)
• The Still Alarm (1887)
• The Old Homestead (1887, by Denman Thompson) (155 perf.)
• A Romance of Athlone (1889, 1890, by Chauncey Olcott)
• Blue Jeans (1890)
• Mavourneen (1891)
• The Errand Boy (1904)

Civic Repertory Theatre

• Alice in Wonderland (1932–33, adapted by Eva Le Gallienne) (127 perf.)
• Peace on Earth (1933–34, by George Sklar and Albert Maltz) (126 perf.)
• Let Freedom Ring (1935–36) (108 perf.)

References

Notes

1. Berg, J.C. (9 January 2011). The Fourteenth Street Theater Archived 2018-05-26 at the Wayback Machine , nycvintageimages.com
2. Fisher, Hames and Londré, Felicia Hardison. "Modernism" in The A to Z of American Theater Rowman & Littlefield, 2009. ISBN   0-8108-6884-9. pp.180–81
3. Steinberg, Mollie B. The history of the Fourteenth street theatre (1931)
4. Brockett, Oscar G. History of the Theatre, Second Edition. Boston, Allyn and Bacon, 1974. p. 553.
5. (30 May 1942). Producer of Play Found Dead in Hotel Archived 2018-07-22 at the Wayback Machine , The New York Times
6. Cooper, Lee E. (1 April 1938). Old Fourteenth St. Theatre to Pass Into Hands of Wreckers on Monday Archived 2018-05-26 at the Wayback Machine , The New York Times
7. (3 September 2011). The Lost 1866 Theatre Francais -- 107 West 14th Street Archived 2011-11-01 at the Wayback Machine , Daytonian In Manhattan
8. Erdman, Harley (Fall 1995). "M. B. Curtis and the Making of the American Stage Jew". Journal of American Ethnic History . 15 (1). University of Illinois Press: 28-45.

Bibliography

• Brockett, Oscar G. History of the Theatre, Second Edition. Boston, Allyn and Bacon, 1974.

External links

• Listing on the Internet Broadway Database
• Civic Repertory Theatre Records. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.