Horse Trade Theater Group becoming Frigid New York

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After 16 years as a for-profit producing organization Horse Trade Theater Group will merge into FRIGID New York. Horse Trade will still operate as a venue manager for The Kraine Theater at 85 East 4th Street and UNDER St. Marks at 94 St. Marks Place, but all in-house productions, festivals, and the Resident Artist Program will now be presented by the nonprofit organization FRIGID New York, producers of the annual FRIGID Festival.

"After many years producing indie theatre we've found that we can offer our artists more opportunities as a nonprofit organization” said Managing Director Erez Ziv. “This will also allow us to consolidate our programming, and invest more in each production. We're very excited for what the future holds."

FRIGID New York’s 2014/2015 season will include RadioTheatre’s HP Lovecraft Festival, Clay McLeod Chapman’s The Pumpkin Pie Show, new resident artists The Battalion, The Drafts play reading series, Gotham Storytelling Festival, the Winter Burlesque Blitz, The Fire This Time Festival, the FRIGID Festival, the first annual LGBT Festival, Downunder Improv Festival, and monthly residents Stand Up and Take Your Clothes Off, Sketch Block, Thank You Robot, Adam Wade, The Wasabassco Hellfire Club, Naked Girls Reading, Open Mic Downstairs, Ten-Foot Rat Cabaret, Cabaret Showdown, Radical Vaudeville, and The History of Beer.

[Updated] Report: The Red Room to close on East 4th Street

W.M. Akers at Astor Place Riot has the scoop this afternoon that the Red Room, the 32-seat performance space on East Fourth Street, will close in March. The Horse Trade Theater Company runs the space located upstairs from the Kraine Theatre and KGB Bar.

Akers has a comment from Horse Trade rep Emily Owens:

Horse Trade's landlord at 85 East 4th Street has decided to repurpose The Red Room, and it will no longer be a performing arts space. I believe he plans to turn it into some type of B&B. Horse Trade will continue to operate out of The Kraine Theater and UNDER St. Marks, and they're currently searching for a venue to replace The Red Room.

As Akers writes:

The Red Room was a tiny space — the kind that New York doesn't have enough of ... It was ideal for truly out-there theater, a hold-out for the Weird in an East Village that has gotten far too normal.

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Updated 4:20 p.m.
Horse Trade just released the following...

After 15 years Horse Trade Theater Group (Heidi Grumelot, Artistic Director, Erez Ziv, Executive Director) is sad to announce that they will no longer be operating out of The Red Room, a 32-seat theater located on the third floor of 85 East 4th Street. The landlord has decided to repurpose the space, and it will no longer be a performing arts venue. Horse Trade will be searching for a new third venue, and in the meantime will continue to operate out of The Kraine Theater at 85 East 4th Street and UNDER St. Marks at 94 St. Marks Place, for the foreseeable future.

We couldn’t let The Red Room go without a proper send off! So the month of March will be full of special events in The Red Room, as we say goodbye to a beloved East Village staple.

Find the March schedule of events at the Red Room here.