Historic Stella Adler Studio of Acting Relocates to 65 Broadway in 70th Anniversary Year

The Stella Adler Studio of Acting today announced its relocation to 65 Broadway in Lower Manhattan from the Studio's long-time home at 31 West 27th Street in Chelsea. The move takes place 70 years after the organization was founded by Stella Adler, whose philosophy has guided the Studio since 1949.

In the past seventy years, generations of actors have studied technique with the studio in various Manhattan locations including at New York City Center, 419 Lafayette Street and originally at the New School's Dramatic Workshop.

As an anchor tenant, the studio will occupy two full floors at 65 Broadway, which is also known as the American Express building. With 30,000 square feet of space, an increase of 10,000 square feet from its previous location, the studio's new facility includes five black box theaters, nine rehearsal studios, spacious patron waiting areas, dressing rooms and other amenities.

65 Broadway will provide an expanded home to correspond to the Studio's growth over the last 25 years from a $1-million per year institution to an $8-million per year institution. The relocation is presently underway and the Studio expects to resume normal operations by the beginning of September.

The organization is simultaneously undergoing a rebranding as the Stella Adler Center for the Arts to reflect the expansive scope of its public programming in the humanities writ large and social justice.

"65 Broadway will mark a new chapter in the life of the Stella Adler Studio in New York City

Our transition into a new and larger home will expand the programming possibilities for the conservatory and for our public-facing programs like the Art Series and the Outreach Division, which are central to our mission," said Tom Oppenheim, Artistic Director at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting and Stella Adler's grandson.

By rebranding as the Stella Adler Center for the Arts, the Studio is emphasizing its transformation over the past 30 years from an acting conservatory into a premier cultural organization. In recent years, the studio's many public-facing programs have expanded significantly.

For example, the Harold Clurman Art Series presented Toni Morrison, Sonia Sanchez and Ta-Nahesi Coates in conversation on Broadway in 2017. Artistic Director Tom Oppenheim co-edited The Muses Go To School (New Press 2015) with Herb Kohl; the collection of essays features arguments and case statements for art education from leading artists and activists including Rosie Perez, Phylicia Rashad and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Since 2013 the Stella Adler Outreach Division has been the largest arts program provider at the embattled Rikers Island Correctional Facility.

The Stella Adler Center for the Arts will continue to operate the Stella Adler Studio as a world-leading actor training studio while also expanding its public work and investment in other arts. The Studio's annual reach includes more than 16,000 people, taking into account audience members, students in outreach programs and students in professional training programs.

"This evolution to a broader cultural and social justice focus represents a meaningful sea change for our organization that has taken place over the last two and a half decades. The Studio believes at its core that that theater is at its most impactful and profound as a discipline when it is brought into dialogue with the vitality of other artistic disciplines across the cultural spectrum," said Oppenheim. "We also believe that theater has a role to play in addressing societal inequities. We are committed to growing the Stella Adler Center for the Arts at 65 Broadway as a key fulcrum of intersectional theater and social justice in New York City."

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