NEW YORK CITY: IndieSpace, HERE Arts Center, New Ohio Theatre, and Rattlestick Theater have announced the establishment of the West Village Rehearsal Co-Op. The companies have signed a 99-year lease on the new rehearsal space on Gansevoort Street.
“We are beyond thrilled to announce the opening of the West Village Rehearsal Co-Op, as we know low cost and permanent cultural space will be critical to New York’s economic recovery,” Randi Berry, the executive director of IndieSpace, said in a statement. The rehearsal space, created in partnership with Community Board #2 (CB2), will be home to a diverse membership of theatre artists and companies.
“This project will ensure that artists can continue to create and provide the vibrancy that is why many people choose to live in New York City,” Kristin Marting, the founding artistic director of HERE, added in a statement.
The 1,500-square-foot rehearsal studio is ADA compliant and features both a kitchen and rehearsal space. For six months out of the year, the space will be available to artists working with HERE Arts, New Ohio, and Rattlestick, which are all in CB2. For the other six months of the year, the space will be available at a subsidized rate of $10 per hour for IndieSpace artists. For resident companies such as the Grove and other companies run by and/or serving artists of color, IndieSpace will provide free use of the studio.
The co-op model will allow the studio not only to serve local theatre companies, but to expand services to individual artists and organizations in the West Village and surrounding neighborhoods. The organizations hope that the co-op will help revive the New York theatre community by providing a new resource for affordable, high-quality rental space after the pandemic forced the closure of many rehearsal studios.
The West Village Rehearsal Co-Op will open with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, Jan. 24.
IndieSpace was established in 2016 to disrupt the ongoing displacement of small theatres and address systemic inequities in New York real estate. In 2022, IndieSpace merged with the Indie Theater Fund. As of 2021, the organization has a budget of approximately $135,700.
HERE Arts Center has been one of New York’s most prolific arts institutions since 1993. HERE produces and presents multidisciplinary performances from its home in Lower Manhattan.
New Ohio Theatre seeks to develop and present bold and innovative work from New York’s independent theatre community. New Ohio is the winner of two Obie Awards for sustained excellence.
Rattlestick Theater aims to produce diverse, challenging, and provocative plays while fostering the future voices of the American theatre. It is the home of the Van Lier New Voices playwriting fellowship and the Terrence McNally Incubator Program..
