The theatre in 1936 with fire escapes added, photographed by Berenice Abbott
The Fourteenth Street Theatre was a New York City theatre located at 107 West 14th Street just west of Sixth Avenue.[1]
History
It was designed by Alexander Saeltzer and opened in 1866 as the Theatre Francais, as a home for French language dramas and opera.[2]
The theatre was renamed the Lyceum in 1871. In 1879, it was taken over by producer J.H. Haverly who renamed it Haverly's 14th Street Theatre. By the mid-1880s, it had become simply the Fourteenth Street Theatre.[3]
By the mid-1910s, it was being used as a movie theatre, until actress Eva Le Gallienne made it the home of her stage company and renamed it to Civic Repertory Theatre in 1926. She mounted 34 successful productions at the theatre,[4] but the Great Depression ended that venture in 1934.[5]
Peace on Earth (1933–34, by George Sklar and Albert Maltz) (126 perf.)
Let Freedom Ring (1935–36) (108 perf.)
References
Notes
^Berg, J.C. (9 January 2011). The Fourteenth Street Theater Archived 2018-05-26 at the Wayback Machine, nycvintageimages.com
^Fisher, Hames and Londré, Felicia Hardison. "Modernism" in The A to Z of American Theater Rowman & Littlefield, 2009. ISBN 0-8108-6884-9. pp.180-81
^Steinberg, Mollie B. The history of the Fourteenth street theatre (1931)
^Brockett, Oscar G. History of the Theatre, Second Edition. Boston, Allyn and Bacon, 1974. p. 553.
^(30 May 1942). Producer of Play Found Dead in Hotel Archived 2018-07-22 at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times
^Cooper, Lee E. (1 April 1938). Old Fourteenth St. Theatre to Pass Into Hands of Wreckers on Monday Archived 2018-05-26 at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times
^(3 September 2011). The Lost 1866 Theatre Francais -- 107 West 14th Street Archived 2011-11-01 at the Wayback Machine, Daytonian In Manhattan
^Erdman, Harley (Fall 1995). "M. B. Curtis and the Making of the American Stage Jew". Journal of American Ethnic History. 15 (1). University of Illinois Press: 28-45.
Bibliography
Brockett, Oscar G. History of the Theatre, Second Edition. Boston, Allyn and Bacon, 1974.
