New York Theatre Workshop

83 East 4th Street | East Village | built 1835

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The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

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.

  1. 1836

    Stockbroker John W. Stebbins lives in a Federal house on Albion Place

    The Federal-style house that becomes 83 East 4th Street is home in 1836 to stockbroker John W. Stebbins, who lists the address as 409 Fourth Street. Stebbins dies there on June 4, 1837, at age 30. The street number changes to 425 in 1850 and to 83 East 4th Street in 1864.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1955

    The Fourth Street Theatre stages Chekhov plays

    The Fourth Street Theatre in the building stages Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull, and Uncle Vanya during its 1955-56 season, with Franchot Tone in Uncle Vanya. Other productions there star Eva Gabor and Patrick O'Neal.

    Source: buildingblocks.villagepreservation.org

  3. 1967

    March 23

    Actors are arrested for desecrating a flag during a Megan Terry play

    In 1967 the New Dramatists Workshop operates in the building. At a March 23 performance of Megan Terry's Keep Tightly Clothed in a Cool Dry Place, two audience members are undercover officers. In one scene four actors, all Yale drama students, use an American flag as a blanket and roll in it, and they are arrested for desecrating the flag.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1969

    February 27

    Edward Albee's Playwrights Unit buys the building for $77,000

    On February 27, 1969, The New York Times reports that the Playwrights Unit, headed by Edward Albee, Richard Barr, and Charles Woodward, has bought 83 East 4th Street for $77,000. The group aims to let new playwrights see their scripts staged professionally without commercial pressure. The theater space becomes known as The Next Stage.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1991

    New York Theatre Workshop buys the building

    The New York Theatre Workshop buys the property in 1991 and moves in the following year. The house becomes a 75-seat black box space for readings, along with the company's offices and a workshop. The group still uses the building today.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

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