Tribeca Citizen | Soho Rep will leave Walker Street in January

Soho Rep, the theater company that has been in a black box on Walker Street for 30 years, will move in January to share space with Playwrights Horizons on 42nd and Ninth.

“It’s finally time to say goodbye to electrical outages, flooding, bathrooms and dressing rooms that are down steep stairs, constantly clogging toilets and only 65 seats!!!” the announcement from the three directors — Cynthia Flowers, Caleb Hammons and Eric Ting — said. They added that the arrangement with Playwrights (whose theater is 128 seats) is a multi-year partnership and that the company will will work towards a new permanent home.

They also emphasized that “Soho Rep is not a building,” though I for one am sad to see the company leave the neighborhood. Following their work has made me much more theater-literate, since it seems nearly every show leads to a Pulitzer Prize, or a Broadway show, or a “must-see” Times review.

The company will use Playwrights’ Sharp Theater as well as another nontraditional space somewhere in the city over the next two to three seasons. “Though the next few years at Soho Rep will look different, what will never change is our dedication to producing radical work by artists at key junctures in their careers, ensuring access through affordable tickets, prioritizing artist pay, and centering anti-racist values both on and off our stages,” the directors said.

The final show on Walker, and the first show of the 2024-25 season, will be GIVE ME CARMELITA TROPICANA! a world premiere play from Alina Troyano (aka Carmelita Tropicana) and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, starring Carmelita Tropicana, directed by Eric Ting. Performances begin Oct. 23 and tickets go on sale in September here.

Or donate to the cause here.

By Americasroof – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0