By: Jerry Zhang

In a significant development reflecting the turbulent post-pandemic economic landscape for nonprofit theaters, the renowned Soho Rep, a nonprofit theater, announced on July 29, 2024, that it is leaving its long-standing TriBeCa home. The theater will share space with Playwrights Horizons, a Midtown theater company, as it seeks a long-term solution.

Established in 1975, Soho Rep operates with a modest annual budget of $2.8 million and a staff of five full-time employees. Despite its small size and Off Off Broadway status, the theater has had a significant impact on the theater world. It premiered Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Fairview” and Shayok Misha Chowdhury’s Pulitzer finalist “Public Obscenities.” Furthermore, the theater has introduced New York audiences to prominent playwrights such as Sarah Kane, Aleshea Harris, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, and Lucas Hnath.

Despite its impending closure in TriBeCa, Soho Rep will stage one final production at its current location this fall: “Give Me Carmelita Tropicana!”, a collaboration between performance artist Alina Troyano, Tony Award winner Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, and directed by Eric Ting.

Back in 2016, Soho Rep was forced to leave its TriBeCa home due to permitting issues, but it returned with the help of city officials. Nevertheless, rising rent, persistent building repair costs, and inadequate revenue generation have now made departure unavoidable with the theater’s leadership citing the death of their previous landlord during the pandemic and the subsequent sale of the building to a corporate real estate company as significant factors.

Soho Rep is just one of many theaters that have suffered from the effects of COVID-19. Even before the pandemic, the theater industry had issues with diversity and resources. However, sales were still strong, so these issues were often overlooked. Now, with no more government relief and declining ticket sales, the industry is forced to adapt. Theatres such as the Oregon Shakespeare Festival have stated that they have to “change the way we do development, the way we market, the way we do finance, the way IT functions, instead of sort of plugging in the holes and filling in the gaps, which is what we’ve been doing.”

As more and more nonprofit theaters vacate their current locations due to COVID-19’s impact on the economy, the future may pose many challenges for the culture of smaller productions by independent writers.