Provincetown Playhouse, Historic theater in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, United States.
The Provincetown Playhouse is a theater in a four-story building in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan. The performance space seats around 180 people, with the stage placed close to the audience.
The building started as a stable before the Provincetown Players converted it into a performance space in 1918. The group had formed in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and brought their experimental work to New York after gaining recognition on Cape Cod.
The venue played a key role in launching experimental theater in America through productions that challenged conventional storytelling. Today visitors can experience the same intimate space where theatrical innovation first took root.
The theater is now run by New York University and mainly presents student productions during the academic year. It is worth checking the schedule in advance, as shows do not run year-round.
In the 1920s, a production featuring Paul Robeson and Mary Blair appearing together on stage sparked national headlines and protests outside the theater. The play was O'Neill's 'All God's Chillun Got Wings', and the controversy began before a single performance had taken place.
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