Ensemble Studio Theatre to Undergo First Major Renovation in Nearly 50 Years

Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST) announced today that their current home at 545-549 West 52nd Street, New York, NY, will undergo major renovations for the first time in nearly 50 years.

The renovations are made possible through generous funding awarded to EST from the New York City Council, as well as the Office of the Mayor of New York City, including the Department of Cultural Affairs. This major capital funding from the City will be increased by a substantial, private funding commitment from the Radio Drama Network, the private foundation created by the late radio drama pioneer Himan Brown.

The nearly $3 million in City funding will allow EST to completely renovate their current facilities, located on the building's second floor, to house offices and rehearsal space, as well as overhaul their current performance space, the Curt Dempster Theatre. Once renovations are complete, the Curt Dempster Theatre will serve as EST's 60-seat studio theater space. The renovation will include the addition of a new 99-seat mainstage theater for EST, as well as a lobby, dressing rooms and restrooms, all located on the ground floor of the building. The improvements to the EST building will be made in partnership with the nonprofit Clinton Housing Development Company, which leases the building from the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development as part of the new Clinton/Hell's Kitchen Studios project.

"The Ensemble Studio Theatre is joyously, eternally grateful to Mayor Bill DeBlasio, Tom Finkelpearl, Cultural Affairs Commissioner, and Andy Burmeister, to the visionary New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, to our wonderful local Council Member Corey Johnson, and to Jimmy Van Bremer, Julissa Ferreras-Copeland, Daniel Garodnick and the entire New York City Council for its extraordinarily generous capital funding allocation in support of our theatre's planned first complete renovation in nearly 50 years on West 52nd Street in Manhattan," says EST's Artistic Director William Carden. "[Their] joint action will extend the life of our City-owned facility and improve the safety and comfort for the theatergoing public and New York City theatre artists from all five Boroughs for decades to come. We also are profoundly grateful to Melina Brown, President of the Radio Drama Network, for their extremely generous private commitment that served to catalyze the City's funding allocation. It's a public/private partnership to benefit the New York City theatre."

EST's 2015/2016 season recently concluded with the world premiere of KENTUCKY, a co-production by EST/The Radio Drama Network and Page 73 Productions.Written by Leah Nanako Winkler and directed by Morgan Gould, KENTUCKY began performances on April 20, 2016, and opened on May 1 2016, for a limited run through May 22, 2016. Programming for the 2016/2017 season will be announced soon.

Ensemble Studio Theatre - commonly known as EST- was founded in 1968 by Curt Dempster on the belief that extraordinary support yields extraordinary work. They are a dynamic and expanding family of member artists committed to the discovery and nurturing of new voices and the continued support and growth of artists throughout their creative lives. Through their unique collaborative process they develop and produce original, provocative, and authentic new plays that engage and challenge their audience and audiences across the country.

Now with nearly 600 ensemble artists, EST has been under the artistic direction of William Carden since 2007. The company received two 2013 Drama Desk Award nominations for Finks by Joe Gilford and one 2014 Drama Desk nomination for Bobby Moreno in Year of the Rooster by Eric Dufault, who won the 2014 NY Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award for a new playwright debut. Hand To God, which originated at EST, was nominated for five Tony Awards for its Broadway run. EST received a special Drama Desk Award for its "unwavering commitment to producing new works" in May of 2015.

The Radio Drama Network (Melina Brown, President) was founded by legendary audio drama director and producer, Himan Brown, to support art forms that use the spoken word to enrich our culture. Himan was a champion of all storytellers, from the tradition of the earliest stranger who wandered from town to town with tales of the latest news, to Academy Award winning writers that contributed for his thousands of radio dramas, to the writers silenced by the Red Scare who were just trying to feed their families; Himan strove to keep them working, telling tales that spun out in the grandest oral traditions of history. Himan was the son of immigrants and became an actor, a director/producer and a gifted orator early in his life. His medium was a new discovery called radio. He began his career reading Yiddish stories over the airwaves from hotel bathrooms, and quickly moved to packaging and creating his own shows. During the height of radio, he created hundreds of radio series such as Inner Sanctum, Little Italy, Grand Central Station, Dick Tracy, Bulldog Drummond, and The Thin Man. Following television's rise, he resurrected audio drama on the airwaves with CBS Radio Mystery Theater and Adventure Theater. Himan Brown lamented the dearth of dramatic and interesting programming on today's airwaves, and he continued to create shows and series well into his 90s. Himan created the Radio Drama Network as a family foundation to continue his philanthropic work. He was a husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather who doted on his great-grandchildren. Himan Brown died three weeks' shy of 100 years old in 2010.

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