The Shakespeare Center

Riverside Shakespeare Company Shakespeare Center, 1982, In West Park Presbyterian Church, West 86 and Broadway

The Shakespeare Center was the home of the Riverside Shakespeare Company of New York City, established in West Park Presbyterian Church on Amsterdam at West 86th Street. The Shakespeare Centers facilities consisted of the main offices of the Riverside Shakespeare Company, costume and set construction and storage rooms, a main lobby (shared with the church), and a theatre equiped with lighting and sound amplification. Two towers were constucted to the side of the audience area for follow spots and, on ocassion, musicians. Seating surrounded the thrust stage on three sides, with traps under the stage. Although the theatre was an Off Off Broadway venue, with 99 seats, the Riverside Shakespeare Company often launched productions to Off Broadway status, as with its summer tours of Free Shakespeare.

The original planked stage was designed by David Emmons (but was later redesigned by Norbert Kolb for specific productions) from platforms donated by the Niederlander organization from the strike of the Broadway production of Nicholas Nickleby. Railings and other features were acquired from the demolition of the former Helen Hayes Theatre on Broadway, when it was destroyed to make way for the Marquis Theatre in midtown Manhattan. Over the years, the theatre was expanded with materials, many from the strike of Broadway shows. The design of the stage was such that major portions of the scenery were required to be removed Saturday nights after a performance, enabling the congregation of the church to see the stain glass windows on the west front of the church, behind the back row of seats in the theatre itself.

Design for The Shakespeare Center stage, 1982.

The two towers of the church were converted by the theatre company into storage facilities for sets and costumes, with hoists and pulleys to raise and lower scenic components to the second balcony level, where the theatre had been built. In the north tower there was a costume construction room, where often a dozen seamstresses worked on numerous costumes designed by a Broadway designer for a major Shakespeare production - either in the theatre, or on tour during the summer. The main entrance for the theatre was beneath the south tower off of West 86th Street, and into the narthex or main lobby of the church, then up the stairs to the balcony theatre above. On the ground level of the north tower, in what had formerly been the Bridal Room of the church, was established the main office of the Riverside Shakespeare Company. In addition, in the main sanctuary of the church, certain special performances were held, such as The Shakespeare Project with actors from the Royal Shakespeare Company of London, and Edward Petherbridge's one-person show, Acting Natural, in 1983.

Dedication of The Shakespeare Center

Dedication of Riverside Shakespeare Company's The Shakespeare Center by Helen Hayes, 1982.

The Shakespeare Center in October of 1982 by first lady of the American theatre, Helen Hayes, and Joseph Papp, head of the New York Shakespeare Festival in a gala ceremony attended by Gloria Foster, Sam Waterston and Peter Brook. Ribbon cutting was done by Helen Hayes (right), who was a founding member of Riverside's Board of Advisors, with a dedicatory statement made by Joseph Papp, who, with the New York Shakespeare Festival had become one of the principal sponsors of the Riverside Shakespeare Company.

At the time of the dedication of The Shakespeare Center, the Riverside Shakespeare Company was headed by W. Stuart McDowell, Artistic Director, and Gloria Skurski, Executive Director, along with Daniel Smith, Director of Riverside Shakespeare's Commedia Wing, Timothy Oman, Managing Director, John Clingerman, Associate Director and Director of the Riverside School for Shakespeare, which was also based in The Shakespeare Center, Dorian Vernacchio, Company Scenic Designer, and by Jay King and Timothy J. Archey, Administrative Assistants.

Upon launching The Shakespeare Center, Roger Rees, Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company and lead actor in that company's Broadway production of Nicholas Nickleby wrote:

Best wishes to the Riverside Shakespeare Company in their endeavor to establish a year-round professional Shakespeare ensemble in New York City. In England, the Royal Shakespeare Company receive a subsidy from the government which the company has to match by seeking commercial support from industry and keeping a strict endeavor always to play to full houses. Shakespeare, the most profound and liberated writer ever, can ironically only be performed under such strictures in our country. Support this company, your R.S.C., and they and Shakespeare will thrive to help the lives, hopes and imaginations of future generations. The Riverside Shakespeare Company share our goals and I hope they will receive generous support and encouragement from you, the public.

On the stage of The Shakespeare Center major New York premieres were mounted by the theatre company of Bertolt Brecht's The Life of Edward II and Nahum Tate's adapation of Shakespeare's King Lear, entitled The History of King Lear. For other productions staged at The Shakespeare Center, see the Wikipedia site for the Riverside Shakespeare Company.