Off-Broadway

Off-Broadway, term used collectively of theatres and plays outside the orbit of the New York mainstream theatre located on or near Broadway. Off-Broadway arose in the 1950s because of the high cost of Broadway productions, the lower overheads and sometimes nonprofit basis away from the centre enabling risks to be taken. Off-Broadway productions may transfer to Broadway, though as costs escalate there is a tendency for even the more popular ones to remain in their original locations, especially if a transfer would require the acquisition of star names. Off-Broadway theatres are generally smaller and less well equipped than Broadway ones, but even these became increasingly subject to commercial pressures. Since the early 1960s a further, largely non-professional, movement known as Off-Off-Broadway has arisen, which presents experimental drama in lofts and other unconventional locations.