Provincetown Playhouse Gets Its Death Sentence
Sad news for New York theatre lovers, historians, and residents alike: The "Washington Square Park" blog reports that New York City's Community Board 2 has voted 37-1 (with 2 abstentions) to approve NYU's proposal to demolish 133-139 MacDougal Street, including the Provincetown Playhouse and apartments.
This follows the news, as Blog Stage reported two months ago, that building owner NYU's unpopular plans to completely demolish the building had been rebutted with alternatives like restoration or partial destruction, to still preserve much of the original structure.
The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) noted on its website after last week's board meeting:
Speaker after speaker urged NYU's demolition plan NOT be approved and the ENTIRE building be preserved; only NYU and the Manhattan Borough President's Office spoke in favor of the current plan...
Ironically, the approval of NYU's plan to demolish most of the building came just after the New York State Historic Preservation Office, in response to a request from GVSHP, declared that the entire building qualified for the State and National Register of Historic Places due to its cultural significance.
All of which prompted "Washing Square Park" to ask: Who exactly does the Community Board represent?
For more about the Provincetown Playhouse and its place in New York theatre history, click here.
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