Roundabout Theatre Company
American non-profit theater company
The Roundabout Theatre Company is a non-profit theatre company based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres.
History
The company was founded in 1965 by Gene Feist, Michael Fried and Elizabeth Owens. Originally housed at a Chelsea, Manhattan, grocery store, on 26th Street, it moved to the nearby 23rd Street Theatre in 1972, performing there until their lease expired in 1984. Following that, Roundabout leased the theatre space at 44 Union Square until that lease expired in 1990. The company then moved into the Criterion Center in Times Square, a two-auditorium complex. Roundabout used the larger Stage Right space as a small Tony Award-eligible theater while the smaller second theater became the first version of the Laura Pels Theatre. Notable productions during Roundabout's tenure at the Criterion include the 1993 revival of Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie (featuring Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson in their Broadway debuts), the 1995 revival of Stephen Sondheim's Company, and the 1997 revival of 1776. The company left the space in 1999 when their lease was canceled in favor of a new flagship Toys "R" Us store.
The company now operates three Broadway theatres – the Todd Haimes Theatre, Studio 54, and the Stephen Sondheim Theatre – and two off-Broadway spaces: the Laura Pels Theatre for new works by established playwrights, and the Roundabout Underground Black Box Theatre for new work of emerging writers and directors. The latter two theatres are located in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (the former American Place Theatre).
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Roundabout Theatre Company” is american non-profit theater company. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Roundabout, Theatre and Company, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “american non-profit theater company” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7371225. VIAF identifies the subject as 132568317. The Library of Congress control number is n84002005. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1965, 1972, 1984 and 1990.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Roundabout Theatre Company”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Roundabout Theatre Company primary sources, Roundabout Theatre Company archive and Roundabout research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Roundabout Theatre Company”?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Roundabout Theatre Company” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.