Chelsea Theater Center (New York, N.Y.)

The Chelsea Theater Center was a not-for-profit theater company founded by Robert Kalfin in 1965. The company started at St. Peter's Church on West 20th Street in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. Then, in 1968, it moved most of its productions to the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The company stayed there through the majority of the 1970s. Its final home was located at 407 W. 43rd Street.

Early on the group settled on what was to be its winning format, "the presentation of large physical productions requiring large casts and settings in addition to the presentation of intimate but innovative works that do not require the spending of a great deal of money." Most of these productions were limited in audience appeal, but through the years they were awarded five Tonys and 28 Obies. One of the first major productions was of The Screens, a seven-hour play by Jean Genet that opened to rave reviews. Other well-received productions consist of: Peter Handke's Kaspar starring Christopher Lloyd; The Prince of Homburg, The Crazy Locomotive, The Beggar's Opera and Yentl the Yeshiva Boy (which later became the tour-de-force motion picture for Barbra Streisand). Some actors and directors who spent time with the Chelsea Theater Center were Meryl Streep, Hal Prince, Glenn Close, Sam Waterston, Louise Schaeffer, and Denny Dillon.

Throughout its life span, the Chelsea Theater Center had financial struggles-going from feast to famine. The first subscription series in 1971 sold out in four weeks, but ten years later during the 1981 season, the musical Hijinks! was forced to close because of lack of ticket sales. Then due to lack of general funding, the rest of the season was canceled. The Chelsea Theater Center folded in 1984.

From the guide to the Chelsea Theater Center records, 1968-1984, (The New York Public Library. Billy Rose Theatre Division.)