So moving forward, Foxface is open Tuesday through Friday, noon to 3 p.m., then 5:30-9:30 p.m. ... and noon to 9 p.m. (or when they sell out!) on Saturday and Sunday.
East Village residents Ori Kushnir and Sivan Lahat opened Foxface, 80 St. Mark's Place just west of First Avenue, late last year. Pete Wells is among the fans of Foxface.
As I noted back in late May, The Pearl Theatre Company, which has had a residency at Theatre 80 the past 15 years, was relocating to Midtown for its 2009-2010 season.
Lorcan Otway, whose parents built and operated Theatre 80 on St. Mark's Place since 1964, said in an e-mail to us at the time that "we intend to keep the East Village a vibrant arts community."
Indeed, that is certainly the case. Good news, finally, for a neighborhood overrun by beer pong, keggers and chain stores. This coming Thursday (Sept. 10), Theatre 80 begins its next life as a community theater. A local theater group is mounting a production for the next month; another group is booked for another month after that... (Stay tuned for the specifics...)
In addition, Lorcan will open a nautically themed cafe in the former Pearl Theatre's concession area.
The spot will be called William Barnacle Scott, named in memory of the late Tompkins Square Park regular who passed away in May. There will be no TVs. No Internet jukebox. And the cafe will close at 6 p.m. As the sign out front promises, "A quiet cafe where people can hear each other talk, and you can hear yourself think."
The cafe will be serving coffee and tea for theatergoers in the short term. Eventually the space will be open to the public, and will likely sell beer and wine.
And what a tour. Despite the heavy workload in preparing the space for next week, Lorcan was gracious with his time, and showed me the entire theatre. In the cellar, he pointed out the foundation to the farmhouse that was in this spot dating back to the late 1600s.
And! I saw the original beer cooler that belonged to Scheib's Bar & Grill, the former speakeasy that operated in this space until Lorcan's father, Howard, and his mother, Florence, bought the building in 1964. (Lorcan's mother is 89 and still lives above the theatre.)
I had to take some photos of the beer cooler...
And Lorcan told me the story about one of the two safes they found in the basement. The safe pictured below was opened in 1964 after being sealed up since the Prohibition. When Howard Otway and Mr. Scheib, who came up from Florida for the honor, opened the safe, they were overcome by fumes and passed out. As Lorcan said, inside: Beer-soaked $100 bills that were picked up off the bar in a hurry and bundled inside the safe. The bills became moldly through the years. (Lorcan said with a chuckle that the Otways never received a finder's fee for the nearly $2 million in moldy bills that Mr. Scheib eventually were able to clean...)
The upstairs area will include a photo of Howard Otway, a Broadway actor, whose inspirational vision for an arts-oriented community lives on with Lorcan today. (Mr. Otway passed away in 1994.)
On St. Mark's near Avenue A... the former Why Curry? space became Lychee, a "home style Thai kitchen" several weeks ago... (even though a lot of the Why Curry? signage remains...)
... and they were enticing passersby with a $1 beer special last night...
...and next door, Bua has been closed all week for renovations.
According to the sign out front, "We look forward to welcoming you back to the new and improved Bua on Friday, March 12."
As I noted back in late May, The Pearl Theatre Company, which has had a residency at Theatre 80 the past 15 years, was relocating to Midtown for its 2009-2010 season.
Lorcan Otway, whose parents built and operated Theatre 80 on St. Mark's Place since 1964, said in an e-mail to us at the time that "we intend to keep the East Village a vibrant arts community."
Indeed, that is certainly the case. Good news, finally, for a neighborhood overrun by beer pong, keggers and chain stores. This coming Thursday (Sept. 10), Theatre 80 begins its next life as a community theater. A local theater group is mounting a production for the next month; another group is booked for another month after that... (Stay tuned for the specifics...)
In addition, Lorcan will open a nautically themed cafe in the former Pearl Theatre's concession area.
The spot will be called William Barnacle Scott, named in memory of the late Tompkins Square Park regular who passed away in May. There will be no TVs. No Internet jukebox. And the cafe will close at 6 p.m. As the sign out front promises, "A quiet cafe where people can hear each other talk, and you can hear yourself think."
The cafe will be serving coffee and tea for theatergoers in the short term. Eventually the space will be open to the public, and will likely sell beer and wine.
And what a tour. Despite the heavy workload in preparing the space for next week, Lorcan was gracious with his time, and showed me the entire theatre. In the cellar, he pointed out the foundation to the farmhouse that was in this spot dating back to the late 1600s.
And! I saw the original beer cooler that belonged to Scheib's Bar & Grill, the former speakeasy that operated in this space until Lorcan's father, Howard, and his mother, Florence, bought the building in 1964. (Lorcan's mother is 89 and still lives above the theatre.)
I had to take some photos of the beer cooler...
And Lorcan told me the story about one of the two safes they found in the basement. The safe pictured below was opened in 1964 after being sealed up since the Prohibition. When Howard Otway and Mr. Scheib, who came up from Florida for the honor, opened the safe, they were overcome by fumes and passed out. As Lorcan said, inside: Beer-soaked $100 bills that were picked up off the bar in a hurry and bundled inside the safe. The bills became moldly through the years. (Lorcan said with a chuckle that the Otways never received a finder's fee for the nearly $2 million in moldy bills that Mr. Scheib eventually were able to clean...)
The upstairs area will include a photo of Howard Otway, a Broadway actor, whose inspirational vision for an arts-oriented community lives on with Lorcan today. (Mr. Otway passed away in 1994.)
Anyway, here's Lorcan talking about the new cafe. (And, due to a technical glitch, the last 10 seconds got caught off -- apologies.)
If you're interested in rental information for Theatre 80, then please contact company manager Lori Singleton at: lori.theatre80@gmail.com.
The Pearl Theatre Company, which has had a residency at Theatre 80 on St. Mark's Place the past 15 years, is relocating to Midtown for its 2009-2010 season.
Said Founding Artistic Director Shepard Sobel in a statement: "While we are disappointed the East Village is losing a theatrical venue to commercial enterprise, we are thrilled to be moving to the theatre district to usher in this exciting new era of The Pearl in this vibrant new community."
Why do we have the fear? Unfortunately, we don't know yet what's replacing the Pearl at 80 St. Mark's Place. We sent an e-mail to a Pearl spokesperson. According to the spokesperson, there are several different possibilities for the space at this time. However, the Pearl isn't privy to that information.
The new Pearl season will launch Oct. 2 with J.M. Synge's "The Playboy of the Western" World under the direction of the Pearl's new artistic director, J.R. Sullivan.
As for the Theatre 80, Howard Otway opened the space as a playhouse in 1967. He later turned it into a revival film house. He died at age 72 in April 1994. As the Times reported, Theatre 80 patrons assumed the venue would close. However, Otway's wife, Florence, continued running the theater.
According to the Times:
In the 1960's, the Otways bought two five-story buildings at 78 and 80 St. Marks Place, site of a famous speakeasy during Prohibition . . . Mrs. Otway remembers the heyday of revivals, from 1975 to 1985, "when people lined up down to Second Avenue." Even in later years, as other revival houses failed, the business was profitable, she said. With a mailing list of 4,000, Mrs. Otway is not worried about competition from VCR's.
Mrs. Otway also lived in an apartment above the theatre. Unfortunately, her tenure was brief. The theatre showed its last double bill -- "High Noon" and "Shane" on July 21, 1994. The Pearl's first production, "King Lear," began on Sept. 8.
Mrs. Otway still owns the two buildings.
For further reading: Plays to Replace Films at Theatre 80 (The New York Times)
