LATEST NEWS

Letter to Borough President Stringer about wall demolition 08/20/09 Borough President’s letter to NYU 08/17/09 Letter to NYU about revised demolition plans 05/19/08 100 leaders in the world of preservation, theater, and the arts urge NYU to reconsider its plans 05/14/08 GVSHP’s second response to NYU’s demolition plans 04/30/08 GVSHP’s first response to NYU’s demolition plans 04/18/08		Provincetown Playhouse determined eligible for State and National Register of Historic Places 06/19/08 GVSHP’s outline of concerns about demolition & documentation of historic significance 06/19/08 Demolition photos of the Provincetown Playhouse & Apartments 08/2009 Protesting NYU’s planned demolition of the Provincetown Playhouse & Apartments 10/20/08

The Provincetown Playhouse and Apartments at 133-139 MacDougal Street was one of the most important sites in the history of 20th century American theater — a launching pad for works of Eugene O’Neill, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Edward Albee, John Guare, Sam Shepherd, Charles Busch, and David Mamet, among others. The apartments over the theater have housed many well-known artists over the years who wished to be near this center of cultural vitality.

In early 2008, NYU proposed to demolish this entire building; after a huge public outcry, it agreed to preserve 6% of the building (the walls containing the small theater in the southern corner of the building). However the remaining 94% of the building was demolished in 2009 to make way for a new NYU Law School building.