Cherry Lane Theatre

38 Commerce Street / New York City

The Cherry Lane Theatre, which opened in March 24, 1924, is located at 38 Commerce Street -
between Barrow and Bedford Streets - in the West Village neighborhood of Greenwich Village,
Manhattan, New York City,

It is the city's oldest continuously running off-Broadway theater and contains a 179-seat
main stage and a 60-seat studio. The building was originally constructed as a farm silo in 1817.
It later served as a tobacco warehouse and box factory before Edna St. Vincent Millay and other
members of the Provincetown Players converted the structure into a theater they christened the
Cherry Lane Playhouse. It opened in 1924 with the theatrical presentation Saturday Night,
by Richard Fresnell. This was followed by the plays The Man Who Ate Popmack, by W. J. Turner,
directed by Reginald Travers, on March 24, 1924; and The Way of the World by William Congreve,
produced by the Cherry Lane Players Inc., opening November 17, 1924.

The theatre received a significant makeover in 1954 when it acquired much of the expensive
furnishings sold off by Rockefeller Center's failing Center Theatre.

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