On Friday, Theatre for a New Audience broke ground on its new home in a city-owned parking lot in the growing BAM Cultural District, located at 262 Ashland Place bet Lafayette Avenue and Fulton Street in Brooklyn. Set to open in April 2013, the Hugh Hardy-designed, 27,500-square-foot building will house a 3-level 299-seat theatre, a rehearsal room, public lobby and various supporting spaces, providing a state-of-the-art venue for the theater company's interpretations of Shakespeare and classical drama. It will be the first permanent residence for the 32-year-old theatre company, the first classical theatre built in New York City in more than four decades and only the second new theatre to be built from the ground up in Brooklyn in more than 50 years.
On hand for the event were First Deputy Mayor Patricia E. Harris, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Theatre for a New Audience Chairman Theodore C. Rogers and Founding Artistic Director Jeffrey Horowitz, Tony Award-winning actor Mark Rylance, and Tony Award-winning director Julie Taymor. Taymor, it has been revealed, will helm the first production for the theater comapny in its new space in spring of 2013. A title has yet to be revealed.
The mission of Theatre for a New Audience is to develop and vitalize the performance and study of Shakespeare and classic drama. For 32 years, Theatre for a New Audience has been renting or sharing space across Manhattan and Brooklyn. Located in the heart of Brooklyn's BAM Cultural District on Ashland Place between Lafayette Avenue and Fulton Street, our new Hugh Hardy-designed theatre is steps from the BAM Peter Jay Sharp Building and Harvey Theater, as well as the Mark Morris Dance Center. The City of New York is developing a public Arts Plaza, designed by landscape architect Ken Smith, which will wrap around the front of the building and provide a welcoming spot for relaxation and recreation.
For more information, visit http://www.tfana.org.
Photo Credit: Monica Simoes
Mark Rylance
Julie Taymor
Juliet Rylance
Theodore C. Rogers & Julie Taymor
Christian Camargo & Juliet Rylance
Mark Rylance
Marty Markowitz, Mark Rylance & Christian Camargo
Juliet Rylance
Harvey Lichtenstein & Julie Taymor
Harvey Lichtenstein & Julie Taymor
Mark Rylance
Marty Markowitz, Juliet Rylance & Christian Camargo &
Theodore C. Rogers
Julie Taymor & Mark Rylance
Harvey Lichtenstein
Claire van Kampen, Julie Taymor, Christian Camargo, Mark Rylance
Claire van Kampen
Mark Rylance
Julie Taymor
Jeffrey Horowitz, Mark Rylance & Julie Taymor
Mark Rylance, Jeffrey Horowitz, Julie Taymor & Claire van Kampen
Theodore C. Rogers, Julie Taymor, Mark Rylance & Harvey Lichtenstein
Marty Markowitz, Jeffrey Horowitz, Patricia E. Harris, Theodore C. Rogers, Julie Taymor, Mark Rylance, Harvey Lichtenstein
