The nearly 50-year-run of theater is winding down at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery. As you may have heard, the Incubator Arts Project is ending its run here.
Here's part of the official explanation from Incubator's organizers:
As of July 1 2014, the Incubator Arts Project will close its doors at St Mark's Church. It has been a long and wonderful ride in support of emerging work, dating back in some form or another to 1992. This room has had a long history of art warriors before then; we were not the first and we dearly hope we won't be the last. We made the decision to end our lease and cease further productions, thereby releasing the future of the room. We wish nothing but wild success for our dear friends at St Mark's, the Poetry Project & Danspace.
According to the Times, the closure is due to "a casualty of static funding and a declining ability to support artists."
In a piece in yesterday's print edition, the Times talked with some of the theater artists whose work had debuted in the church space.
SAM SHEPARD, playwright and actor I was working as a busboy at the Village Gate. Ralph Cook of Theater Genesis heard I was writing stuff similar to plays and wanted to know if I wanted to do something there. It was shocking to be produced; I was writing more or less as a private experience. I don’t know if you want to call it a meditation. Probably not. It was just amazing suddenly to have actors, an audience. And kind of embarrassing, like listening to your own voice on a tape.
The Incubator's final offering, "Katorga," ends Sunday. (There are five performances left starting tomorrow night.)
The Church has leased the second-floor space to the New York Theater Ballet and its ballet school, the Times reported.
