Queens Theatre (New York City)

Queens Theatre, formerly Queens Theatre in the Park and before that Queens Playhouse, is an American professional theatre at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, United States. Artistic and Executive Directors have included Joseph S. Kutrzeba, founder and producer; Robert Moss, Sue Lawless, Jeffrey Rosenstock and Ray Cullom, formerly Managing Director of Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, and since 2011, Taryn Sacramone, former Executive Director of Astoria Performing Arts Center.

History

Adapted from the former Theaterama at the 1964 New York World's Fair, the theater was part of Philip Johnson's then $6 million construction project that also included observation towers and an open-air pavilion called the "Tent of Tomorrow." The theater was originally decorated with the artwork of Andy Warhol and Robert Indiana. The theater is next to the Unisphere at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, an area that also includes Citi Field, the Queens Museum of Art, and the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

Johnson and Richard Foster designed the original theater. The audience stood and viewed a travelog of New York State projected on screens lining the inside of the circular room. The showing of a cycloramic (360 degrees) film about New York State was a tribute to the world fair's host city. The surround cinema was converted into a multipurpose "legitimate" theater in the 1970s, requiring the addition of a stage, public restrooms, lobby, dressing rooms, and stage house.

1972–1975

The Queens Playhouse, as it was called upon opening in 1972, was founded by Joseph S. Kutrzeba. In 1965, it was originally in a lumberyard in Bayside, Queens, and was the first nonprofit professional resident theater in Queens.