Queens Theatre
56-09 Grand Central Parkway | also 14 United Nations Avenue South, 56-01 Grand Central Parkway | Flushing Meadows-Corona Park | built 1964
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1964
Philip Johnson and Richard Foster design the Theaterama for the 1964 World's Fair
The round building began as the Theaterama, one piece of Philip Johnson's $6 million New York State exhibit at the 1964 New York World's Fair, alongside observation towers and the open-air Tent of Tomorrow. Johnson and Richard Foster designed it, and it was first decorated with artwork by Andy Warhol and Robert Indiana.
“…the theater was part of Philip Johnson's then $6 million construction project that also included observation towers and an open-air pavilion…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1964
Fairgoers stand inside the Theaterama to watch a 360-degree film about New York State
At the fair, visitors to the Theaterama stood in the circular room while a travelogue of New York State played on screens that ringed its walls. The 360-degree cycloramic film was meant as a tribute to the state hosting the fair.
“The audience stood and viewed a travelog of New York State projected on screens lining the inside of the circular room.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1972
Joseph Kutrzeba opens the Queens Playhouse here with Shaw's Pygmalion
Producer Joseph S. Kutrzeba moved his company, the Queens Playhouse, into the former fair cinema in 1972, turning it into a live venue. He had started the troupe in 1965 in a Bayside lumberyard, and it was the borough's first resident professional nonprofit theater. The first show staged in the new home was George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion.
“Their first production in the new theater was George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1974
Founder Joseph Kutrzeba leaves for Broadway with a My Lai musical first staged here
After money troubles in 1974, which Kutrzeba blamed on thin backing from the Queens Cultural Association and the New York State Council on the Arts, the founder departed that November to produce on Broadway. His vehicle was The Lieutenant, a musical about the trials that followed the My Lai Massacre. It had begun at the Queens Playhouse, earned a Tony nomination for Best Musical on Broadway, and closed after a brief run.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1993
A $4 million rebuild reopens the round theater as Queens Theatre in the Park
Shut since 1985, the circular theater reopened in 1993 after a $4 million conversion by architect Alfredo De Vido into a 476-seat house, renamed Queens Theatre in the Park. The work strengthened the original dome and added a second roof to block noise from LaGuardia Airport, along with an elevator, catwalks, new facades and a 100-seat studio theater downstairs. Borough President Claire Shulman, who had attended the 1939 fair on this ground as a girl, called it a wonderful success.
“The circular theater closed in 1985. A $4 million project converted it into a 476-seat community theater, designed by architect Alfredo De Vido…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1997
The theater draws 90,000 people to more than 300 performances in one season
In its 1996-97 season the theater counted about 90,000 visitors across more than 300 events, ranging from plays, concerts and dance to children's shows, workshops, films and festivals. To bring in Latino audiences it hosted a Latin American festival.
“During the 1996–97 season it had attendance of 90,000 people at more than 300 performances…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2009
A glass reception pavilion is added and the theater joins the National Register
A 2008-09 expansion by Caples Jefferson Architects with Lee/Timchula Architects gave the theater a see-through circular reception hall, including a 600-person space called the nebula; the work later won a 2011 lighting design award. In 2009 the theater was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as one of three structures forming the 1964 fair's New York State Pavilion.
“In 2009, the theater was added to the National Register of Historic Places as one of the three qualifying structures…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2021
A film built from Queens residents' pandemic testimonies premieres at the theater
The experimental film I See You And You See Me had its premiere at Queens Theatre on April 22, 2021. Directed by Harris Doran, it drew on accounts that borough residents gave of the first days of the COVID-19 pandemic, gathered by the Queens Memory Project. Its cast included Deirdre Lovejoy, Deborah S. Craig, Pooya Mohseni, Khalid Rivera and James Seol.
“On April 22, 2021, the experimental film project "I See You And You See Me" premiered at the Queens Theatre.”
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Queens Theatre (New York City)Wikipedia
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All 12 buildings with stories in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park