By Bonnie Rosenstock
On June 14, after the final performance of its acclaimed production of Tennessee Williams’s “Vieux Carré,” The Pearl Theatre Company lowered its curtain for the last time at Theatre 80 St. Mark’s Place and prepared to head uptown to its new quarters for the upcoming 2009-’10 season.
A spokesperson for the company, which has been a mainstay of classic theater in the East Village for the past 15 years, stated by phone that the reason they are leaving is they were unable to negotiate their lease with the owners of the building.
“Fortunately or unfortunately, there is nothing else I can say about that,” he said.
In several e-mail exchanges with The Villager, Lorcan Otway, manager of the two adjacent five-story family-owned buildings at 78 and 80 St. Mark’s Place, would not comment on exact details of the negotiations, except to say that “the differences were not financial, but other terms in the lease which removed from our family potential future authority over the property.”
A source who wished to remain anonymous confirmed that there were “internal family matters” at play.
Otway added, “I would like to emphasize that we consider the Pearl Theater to have been one of the string of successful adventures in the remarkably successful history of our theater and this property over the years. My mother and I wish the Pearl Theatre great success in their new home.”
Otway, an East Village photographer whose photos and articles have appeared in The Villager, and his wife live above the theater, a few floors over his mother’s apartment. His father, Howard Otway, bought the buildings, the site of a famous Prohibition speakeasy, in 1964. The theater opened as a playhouse in 1967 with the musical hit “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” was briefly home to the Manhattan Festival Ballet, and from 1971 to Howard Otway’s death in 1994, it was the longest running full-time (with double features) film revival house. The Pearl moved there from Chelsea in 1994.
Otway said that future plans for the building are the same as when he and his father dug out the auditorium by hand.
“We intended there to be theater on St. Mark’s Place,” he said. “I am dedicated to continuing his life’s work, which keeps us seeking a lower rent than other uses would bring.”
In a press release announcing the move, founding artistic director Shepard Sobel stated that the New York City Center Stage II at 130 W. 56th St. “will provide just as many opportunities for growth and change. While we are disappointed that we must leave our many business and civic partners in the East Village,” Sobel said, “we are thrilled to be moving to the Theater District to usher in an exciting new era of The Pearl in this vibrant new community.”
Sobel and his wife, the actress Joanne Camp, associate director and founding member of its resident acting company, established The Pearl in 1984. They will be moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to be closer to family and plan to continue their work in theater.
J.R. Sullivan formally took over the artistic director reins on Aug. 1.
“I am very humbled and privileged by this appointment,” he said. “This is a company with a grand tradition. Its focus on the great plays over the years has added something very important to theater in New York.”
Of the change in venue, Sullivan said of the small, 11-member company, “It’s bittersweet to be leaving. But at the same time it’s an opportunity for the company to expand its profile to the theatergoing public and the city at large at the City Center and we intend to make use of its every advantage.”
Sullivan noted that the 150-seat theater is actually 10 seats fewer than at Theatre 80, so that all-important intimacy will be retained. In addition, the uptown move will not affect affordable Downtown ticket prices, assured marketing director Aaron Schwartzbord, with the majority of the plays costing $5 less than last season.
“We are committed to making theater available for as wide an audience as possible,” he said, although they will no longer accept discounted Theatre Development Fund (T.D.F.) vouchers due to City Center restrictions.
The Pearl’s four-play season runs from Oct. 2, 2009, to May 9, 2010. Sullivan will direct J.M. Synge’s Irish comedy “The Playboy of the Western World,” Oct. 2 to Nov. 22, and Charles Dickens’s “Hard Times,” adapted by Stephen Jeffreys, Feb. 5 to March 28. The other productions are George Bernard Shaw’s “Misalliance,” Dec. 4 to Jan. 24, and Frank D. Gilroy’s 1965 Pulitzer Prize-winning family drama “The Subject Was Roses,” April 9 to May 2. As to the choice of the latter, Sullivan said, “I want to include the great plays of the American 20th century. I think that American classics have their place in The Pearl programming, and I would expect every season to feature one.”
The company is leasing the new space from the Manhattan Theater Club, and it is unclear if they can continue there beyond this season.
“We will know by the first of the year when that discussion comes,” stated Sullivan. “We will see how it works for us and for them. It’s a great opportunity they have given us to share that space. Hopefully, we will be able to stay.”
Tickets can be purchased at www.citycenter.org, through CityTix, 212-581-1212, at the box office beginning Sept. 1, or on The Pearl’s Web site, www.pearltheatre.org.
