East Village Theater The Culture Project Files for Bankruptcy

According to Broadway Journal, The Culture Project, a theater located in the East Village, has filed for bankruptcy protection.

In a phone interview, Culture Project lawyer Joel Shafferman said, "It's a dispute with the landlord and we hope to resolve it in the bankruptcy case." He also said that the filing would not affect SIMON SAYS, which stars Brian Murray and is renting the Culture Project's Lynn Redgrave Theatre. It's set to begin previews this week.

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Culture Project (Producer/Venue) was founded in 1996 by its current Producing Artistic Director Allan Buchman. Its courage to create work about challenging topics has paved the way for many mainstream theaters to tackle subjects that may previously have been viewed as too controversial in contemporary terms.

As lead producer of The Exonerated in 2002, the show ran for 18 months in NYC, additionally raising well over 1 million dollars for the individuals whose stories were depicted on stage. The play won every award for which it was eligible, both here and abroad. It also won the prestigious Champion of Justice Award from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. In 2004 Culture Project produced Sarah Jones' Bridge and Tunnel with Meryl Streep, a show that was taken to Broadway where the artist was awarded a special Tony for Unique Theatrical Experience. Guantánamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom was considered so important by the New York Times that it received a full above-the-fold half-page photo in the Arts and Leisure section on the Friday before the Republican convention. Buchman was able to attract Howard Zinn, Samantha Power, Danny Glover and Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu into the cast at various times.

Culture Project has three main initiatives that extend outside the realm of traditional theater fare: IMPACT, a festival of political art featuring music, dance, film, theater and conversation. Women Center Stage, a yearly festival focusing on women artists, whose voices contribute to a world in which we would like to live. Blueprint For Accountability, a series that combines theater, film, and conversation about topics mainstream media tends to avoid where by government, corporations and individuals are responsible for their thoughts and deeds. UN General Assembly Hall Concerts - to date Culture Project is the only organization outside of the UN community ever invited to produce and sponsor a UN day concert in the 70-year history of the organization. In 2013, the Culture Project was renamed The Lynn Redgrave Theater.