A24, an indie film studio, buys New York's Cherry Lane Theater
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Friday, November 8, 2024


A24, an indie film studio, buys New York's Cherry Lane Theater
People line up for a show at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York, May 3, 2022. A24, the independent film and television studio barreling into the March 12, 2023 Academy Awards with a boatload of Oscar nominations, is making an unexpected move into live performance, purchasing the small Off Broadway theater in New York’s West Village. (Desiree Rios/The New York Times)

by Michael Paulson



NEW YORK, NY.- A24, an independent film and television studio barreling into next weekend’s Academy Awards with a boatload of Oscar nominations, is making an unexpected move into live performance, purchasing a small off-Broadway theater in New York’s West Village.

The studio, which until now has focused on making movies, television shows and podcasts, has purchased the Cherry Lane Theater for $10 million and plans to present plays as well as other forms of live entertainment there, in addition to the occasional film screening.

A24, whose films include leading Oscar contender “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” is not the first film studio to make such a move: The Walt Disney Co. has been presenting stage productions at Broadway’s New Amsterdam Theater, which it leases from the state and city, since 1997. But Disney, of course, is an entertainment industry behemoth that has mastered the art of multiplatform storytelling.

A more comparable move, perhaps, was that by Audible, an Amazon audio subsidiary that since 2018 has been leasing Minetta Lane Theater, in Greenwich Village, for live productions that it then records and offers on its digital platform. And Netflix, the streaming juggernaut, has in recent years taken over several cinemas, including the Paris Theater in New York, as well as the Egyptian and Bay theaters in Los Angeles.

The A24 acquisition, coming at time when many theaters are still struggling to rebound from the coronavirus pandemic, suggests a vote of confidence in live performance. A24 plans to present some events celebrating Cherry Lane’s centennial this spring, and then to close the theater for renovations before beginning full-scale programming next year.

Much remains uncertain about how the company intends to use the theater. A24 declined to make anyone available to speak on the record about the acquisition, but an official there said the company had not yet decided whether it would develop work for the stage or present work developed by others. The official, who was granted anonymity to describe the company’s plans, said the studio hoped the theater would allow it to strengthen existing relationships with writers and performers who work on stage and screen, and to develop new relationships with comedians and theater artists.

A24 plans to retain the theater’s existing staff while adding to it with its own team, the official said, and as part of the renovation, it plans to install technology so the theater can be used for film screenings.




The official said A24’s theater venture is a partnership with Taurus Investment Holdings.

“I really believe my theater is going into the right hands,” said Angelina Fiordellisi, who has owned the theater since 1996. “They love to develop and produce the work of emerging writers, and a lot of their writers are playwrights. I can’t imagine a better way to bring future life to the theater.”

Fiordellisi, 68, has been trying to sell the theater for some time.

“I don’t want to work that hard anymore,” she said, “and I want to spend more time with my family.”

The purchase, previously reported by Curbed, includes three attached properties: a 179-seat theater, a 60-seat theater and eight apartments, on the Village’s picturesque, curving Commerce Street. The Cherry Lane, in a 19th-century building that was a brewery and a box factory before being converted to theatrical use in 1923, bills itself as the city’s longest continually running off-Broadway theater.

In 2021, Fiordellisi agreed to sell the property to the Lucille Lortel Theater for $11 million, but the sale fell apart. Last week, Lortel announced it had spent $5.3 million to purchase a three-story carriage house in Chelsea, where it plans to open a 61-seat theater in 2025. The Lortel organization also has a 295-seat theater in the West Village.

The Cherry Lane will now be a for-profit, commercial venture; Fiordellisi had operated it through a nonprofit, occasionally presenting work that she developed and more often renting it to nonprofit and commercial producers. Fiordellisi said she will convert her nonprofit to a foundation that will give grants to playwrights and small theater companies.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.










Today's News

March 8, 2023

Artemis Gallery announces March 9 Exceptional Ancient, Ethnographic & Fine Art Auction

How to get behind the scenes at Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin? Take a baking class.

Ancient DNA reveals history of hunter-gatherers in Europe

Exhibition premieres a ground-breaking new virtual reality experience by Julian Opie

Hake's to auction fresh-to-market pop culture collections, prototypes and rarities, March 21-22

Giovanni Bellini: Influences Croisées at the Musée Jacquemart-André

From stagecoaches to monorails: Heritage presents rare artifacts from Disneyland history March 25-26

Whitney Museum reaches agreement with unionized workers

The Met explores notions of identity and place in nearly 100 works of 19th-Century Danish art

Rediscovered Cranach altarpiece to be offered at Koller

In the papers of Yiddish novelist Chaim Grade, clues to his lesser fame

Desert X finds roots in the region

National Gallery of Art announces new acquisitions

New lightworks and sculptures, more personal than ever, prove cultural disparaties between the Philippines and the U.S.

Dallas Museum of Art appoints Chief Curator & Asst. Curator of European Art

"Approximate Joy" by Christopher Anderson now on view at Danziger Gallery in Los Angeles

Review: In 'The Best We Could,' the players follow directions

A24, an indie film studio, buys New York's Cherry Lane Theater

The Other Art Fair, London, presents guest exhibition from female refugee artists at its March edition

A photographer focuses on her African roots - and the continent's future

Translating the music of trees into the sounds of opera

David Lance Goines, who shaped the counterculture aesthetic, dies at 77

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art & Museum of the African Diaspora announce joint curatorial position

Highest-graded Zanzibar note ever offered at auction heads to Heritage World Paper Money event

Uncovering the Truth: Honest Waistdear Reviews and Customer Experiences

Discover Your Creative Potential with Clipart Studio

What is Broach a Keyway




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys
Holistic Dentist
Abogado de accidentes
สล็อต
สล็อตเว็บตรง

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful