Some of the Manhattan’s best people-watching scenes—of plastered investment bankers stumbling into cabs and long-legged gallery receptionists—are available for viewing in Chelsea.
But if you prefer your theater professional and indoors, your best bet is the venerable Atlantic Theater Company, cofounded by David Mamet and William H. Macy. The off-Broadway company operates two theaters in the district. Their Linda Gross Theater (336 W. 20th St. between Eighth and Ninth avenues)—a dazzlingly retrofitted church with exposed brick—offers three to four high-gloss productions a year of plays by established American and British writers, which frequently transfer to Broadway.
Recently, both Spring Awakening and Martin McDonagh’s The Lieutenant of Inishmore began at the Gross Theater before moving to more well known venues. The space currently hosts an extended run of McDonagh’s superb The Cripple of Inishmaan through March 1.
If you’re under 30 and more accustomed to theater in cramped basements, the Stage 2 space (76 Ninth Ave. at 16th Street) is an intimate black-box theater that the company uses for its acting school as well as for two smaller productions each season. The venue also rents out to independent companies, and presently houses J.T. Rogers’s White People.
A number of smaller companies also tread the boards in Chelsea, including Irish Repertory Theatre—an off-Broadway group that makes its home at 132 W. 22nd St. between Sixth and Seventh avenues. True to its name, Irish Repertory produces four shows a year, presenting classic and contemporary pieces by Irish and Irish-American authors, as well as shows which explore the Irish and Irish-American experience. The company is currently playing a revival of Brian Friel’s Aristocrats through March 8.
But perhaps your theatrical predilections bend toward the more experimental. You may want to frequent one of the less conventional troupes in the district, such as Urban Stages at 259 W. 30th St. between Seventh and Eight avenues. With a mission to discover and produce new works by artists of diverse cultural backgrounds, the company nurtures various theatrical endeavors from straight plays to musicals, with styles from naturalist to avant-garde.
Another bastion of innovative performance is The Kitchen (512 W. 19th St. between Tenth and Eleventh avenues)—an interdisciplinary organization that provides space for emerging artists to hone their creative risks. Founded in 1971, The Kitchen has helped launch the careers of a number of avant-garde artists including Bill T. Jones and Constance de Jong.
At any one time the organization may be presenting experimental performance pieces as well as dance, music, literature readings, film, and the visual arts. Most recently it produced a fantastic sold-out run of Young Jean Lee’s The Shipment.
If you desire something a little lighter for your evening, Chelsea also provides the pleasures of the legendary Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (307 W. 26th St. between Eighth and Ninth avenues), which presents an assortment of improv and sketch ensembles, as well as classes in comedy writing.
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