Upright Citizens' Brigade To Close New York Theater and Training Center

The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, the famed improvisational and sketch comedy training program, has announced that it will close its theater and training facility in New York's Hell's Kitchen.

The news comes on the heels of the news that the organization would be laying of theater staff at its locations on both coasts.

In an emall, UCB co-founders, Amy Poehler, Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, and Matt Walsh, wrote, "This is devastating to us, but for some time now, even in a normal, robust economy, we have barely been able to pay the high rents in New York City for the Hell's Kitchen Theater and the Training Center. Given the indefinite shutdown of all theaters and schools in both Los Angeles and New York City and the anticipated slow and uncertain return to normal when restrictions are lifted, we cannot afford to continue on in our New York City leases. Terminating the New York leases is not a cure-all for the financial health of the organization, but one of many changes we will need to make as we restructure our organization moving forward."

Despite the fact that the closure marks the end of permanent UCB locations in New York, following the end of its Chelsea and East Village locations in recent years, the team insists that this will not mark the end of UCB in New York City.

According to the email, the school and the theater "will continue on in a pared-down form, which will be very similar to how we operated when we first started in NYC over 20 years ago." Shows at the SubCulture venue are expected to continue while classes will continue in rental spaces taught on a 'per-class' basis.

The founders remain "open to the possibility of again having our own facilities in New York in the future if we can find an economically feasible way to do so."

They write, "We want you to know that our decisions regarding NYC were not made lightly or without careful consideration of the people affected by them ... It will allow us to continue to serve as much of the community as possible, rather than simply to shutter the NYC arm of the organization."