EVERY SINGLE NIGHT

It’s opening night. In two very different performance spaces. One, an ominously palatial and garishly gilded sarcophagus of a building on Broadway; the other, a bohemian cabaret in a nondescript tenement on the lower east side. One seats two thousand and costs millions to operate; the other seats two hundred and costs thousands to operate, with the bulk of its resources going toward provocative new material and the best repertory company of actors you’ve never heard of yet. The Broadway speculators invest in brand name celebrities (arguably on the wane), who deign to lower themselves and tread the boards between their blockbuster movie franchises, for fees that are as removed from equity scale as their level of engagement is from fellow cast members and audience. They phone it in, they jump in their Escalade limo, they cash their checks. The audience streams out of the theater with a very lob-sided feeling of emptiness and no way to articulate why.

Meanwhile, in our relatively unadorned black box across town, powerful, visceral stories are being told, memories are being made… no, history’s being made. This night: underwater puppetry. The next: punk-rock Kabuki. And the next: a musical theater version of Henry V that brings the audience spontaneously to their feet. During the show. Every night. Because theater is not about glitz and glamour. It’s about people being engaged by other people in a story. In an experience. That’s what we do here. We work with the space we have. We add thoughtful, but not extravagant, details that will enhance, not compete with, the experience. We put together the right cast and focus them on all the right things, all the right beats and notes, everything that goes into an Experience worthy of a capital E. So, fine.

Let the impresarios continue to dazzle like so many hedge fund managers, attempting to cover up their bankruptcy of authenticity and soul. We will go on making unforgettable moments for every patron who walks into our venue. We will aim for spontaneous, explosive standing ovations. Every single night.