Cherry Lane Theatre

Cherry Lane Theatre, New York, in Commerce Street. This early 19th-century building was converted into a theatre in 1924. In 1927 the New Playwrights Theatre took it over and gave it their own name. The theatre reverted to its original name in 1928 and survived the Depression by a widespread use of reduced price ticket vouchers. In 1945 it was leased by an experimental company which opened with O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock. Since then a number of companies have been seen there, including the Living Theatre in the 1950s. In the 1960s the first productions in New York of Edward Albee's The American Dream and The Death of Bessie Smith, Samuel Beckett's Play, and Harold Pinter's The Lover were presented. Other notable productions included Edward Bond's Saved (1970); the long-running The Passion of Dracula (1977), adapted from Bram Stoker's novel; and Sam Shepard's True West (1982).