Off Broadway

Off Broadway The term applied to a widely dispersed group of small theatres away from the principal commercial theatre center near Times Square. Many of these playhouses were established in basements, lofts, converted churches, and elsewhere, and they regularly produced plays deemed too risky for commercial production. Although such playhouses existed throughout the century (witness the Provincetown, Greenwich Village, and Neighborhood playhouses), the designation did not take hold until after World War II. Many of the plays first presented in these theatres were later moved to traditional Broadway houses, while others, such as Threepenny Opera or The Fantasticks, remained in their original playhouses for their entire long runs. By the 1960s Off‐Broadway theatres were often providing much of the most exciting theatre in New York. Among the notable producing groups were the Circle in the Square, La Mama, the Living Theatre Company, the Negro Ensemble Company, the Phoenix Theatre, and the New York Shakespeare Festival. Many playwrights, such as Beckett, Genet, and the Americans Sam Shepard and A. R. Gurney Jr., have been presented in New York almost solely in Off‐Broadway houses, and several playwrights, such as Tennessee Williams, announced a preference for Off Broadway after their later plays were not well received uptown. Off Broadway has its own prestigious award, the Obie, and an organization called the League of Off Broadway Theatres and Producers.