An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer than 100.
An "off-Broadway production" is a production of a play, musical, or revue that appears in such a venue and adheres to related trade union and other contracts. Some shows that premiere off-Broadway are subsequently produced on Broadway.Tepper, Jennifer Ashley. "Which Pre-Broadway Tryout Theater Boasts the Most Best Musical Tony Award Winners?", BroadwayWorld.com, Nov. 30, 2025
History The term originally referred to any venue, and its productions, on a street intersecting Broadway in Midtown Manhattan's Theater District, the hub of the American theatre industry. It later became defined by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers as a professional venue in Manhattan with a seating capacity of at least 100, but not more than 499, or a production that appears in such a venue and adheres to related trade union and other contracts.
Previously, regardless of the size of the venue, a theatre was considered a Broadway (rather than off-Broadway) house if it was within the "Broadway Box", extending from 40th Street north to 54th Street and from Sixth Avenue west to Eighth Avenue, including Times Square and West 42nd Street. This change to the contractual definition of "off-Broadway" benefited theatres satisfying the 499-seat criterion because of the lower minimum required salary for Actors' Equity performers at off-Broadway theatres as compared with the salary requirements of the union for Broadway theatres. The adoption of the 499-seat criterion occurred after a one-day strike in January 1974. Examples of off-Broadway theatres within the Broadway Box are the Laura Pels Theatre and The Theater Center.
The off-Broadway movement started in the 1950s as a reaction to the perceived commercialism of Broadway and provided less expensive venues for shows that have often employed future Broadway artists. An early success was Circle in the Square Theatre's 1952 production of Summer and Smoke by Tennessee Williams."Circle in the Square papers". New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. accessed December 18, 2018. According to theatre historians Ken Bloom and Frank Vlastnik, off-Broadway offered a new outlet for "poets, playwrights, actors, songwriters, and designers. ... The first great Off-Broadway musical was the 1954 revival" of The Threepenny Opera, which proved that off-Broadway productions could be financially successful. Critic John Gassner argued at the time, however, that "Broadway is just as eclectic – and just as footless – as 'Off-Broadway'." Theatre Row, on West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues in Manhattan, is a concentration of off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway theatres. It was developed in the mid-1970s and modernized in 2002.McKinley, Jesse. "Upscale March of Theatre Row; A Centerpiece of Redevelopment". The New York Times. November 21, 2002. Accessed March 2, 2017.
Many off-Broadway shows have had subsequent runs on Broadway, including such musicals as Hair, Godspell, Little Shop of Horrors, Sunday in the Park with George, Rent, Grey Gardens, Urinetown, Avenue Q, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Rock of Ages, In the Heights, Spring Awakening, Next to Normal, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Fun Home, Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, Hadestown, and Kimberly Akimbo. In particular, two that became Broadway hits, Grease and A Chorus Line, encouraged other producers to premiere their shows off-Broadway. Plays that have moved from off-Broadway houses to Broadway include Doubt, I Am My Own Wife, Bridge & Tunnel, The Normal Heart, Oh, Mary!, and Coastal Disturbances. Other productions, such as Stomp, Blue Man Group, Altar Boyz, Perfect Crime, Forbidden Broadway, Nunsense, Naked Boys Singing, Bat Boy: The Musical, and I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change have had runs of many years off-Broadway, never moving to Broadway. The Fantasticks, the longest-running musical in theatre history, spent its original 42-year run off-Broadway from 1960 to 2002 and had another off-Broadway run from 2006 to 2017.Lefkowitz, David (January 13, 2002). "The Fantasticks Bids Farewell, Jan. 13, After 42 Years on Sullivan Street". Playbill. Accessed January 28, 2017; and Gordon, David (September 9, 2016). "After 56 Years, Tom Jones Isn't Finished With The Fantasticks". TheaterMania.com.
Awards Off-Broadway shows, performers, and creative staff are eligible for the following awards: the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Drama Desk Award, the Obie Award (presented since 1956 by The Village Voice), the Lucille Lortel Award (created in 1985 by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres & Producers), and the Drama League Award. Although off-Broadway shows are not eligible for Tony Awards, an exception was made in 1956 (before the rules were changed), when Lotte Lenya won Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for the off-Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera.
List of off-Broadway theatres Capacity is based on the capacity given for the respective theatre at the Internet Off-Broadway Database. TheatreAddressCapacity47th Street TheatreW. 47th St. (No. 304)19659E59 Theaters, Theatre AE. 59th St. (No. 59)196777 Theatre8th Ave. (No. 777)158Abrons Arts Center, Playhouse TheatreGrand St. (No. 466)300Actors Temple TheatreW. 47th St. (No. 339)199Alice Griffin Jewel Box TheatreW. 42nd St. (No. 480)191Anne L. Bernstein TheaterW. 50th St. (No. 210)199Anspacher TheatreLafayette St. (No. 425)275Astor Place TheatreLafayette St. (No. 434)298Asylum NYCE. 24th St. (No. 123)150Cherry Lane TheatreCommerce St. (No. 38)179Claire Tow TheaterW. 65th St. (No. 150)112Classic Stage CompanyE. 13th St. (No. 136)199Daryl Roth TheatreE. 15th St. (No. 101)299The Duke on 42nd StreetW. 42nd St. (No. 229)199Ellen Stewart Theater, La MaMaE. 4th St. (No. 66)175Gramercy Arts TheatreE. 27th St. (No. 138)140Greenwich House TheatreBarrow St. (No. 27)199The Gym at JudsonThompson St. (No. 243)200Irene Diamond Stage, Signature TheatreW. 42nd St. (No. 480)294Irish Repertory TheatreW. 22nd St. (No. 132)148Jerome Robbins TheatreW. 37th St. (No. 450)238Jerry Orbach TheaterW. 50th St. (No. 210)199John Cullum TheatreW. 54th St. (No. 314)140Laura Pels TheatreW. 46th St. (No. 111)425Linda Gross TheatreW. 20th St. (No. 336)199Loreto Theater, Sheen CenterBleeker St. (No. 18)273Lucille Lortel TheatreChristopher St. (No. 121)299LuEsther TheatreLafayette St. (No. 425)160Manhattan Movement & Arts CenterW. 60th St. (No. 248)180Marjorie S. Deane Little TheaterW. 63rd St. (No. 5)145Martinson TheatreLafayette St. (No. 425)199Minetta Lane TheatreMinetta Lane (No. 18)391Mitzi E. Newhouse TheaterW. 65th St. (No. 150)299New Victory TheaterW. 42nd St. (No. 209)499New World Stages, Stage 1W. 50th St. (No. 340)499New World Stages, Stage 2350New World Stages, Stage 3499New World Stages, Stage 4350New World Stages, Stage 5199New York City Center Stage IW. 55th St. (No. 131)300New York City Center Stage II150New York Theatre Workshop, Theatre 79E. 4th St. (No. 79)199Newman TheatreLafayette St. (No. 425)299Newman Mills TheatreW. 52nd St. (No. 511)245Orpheum TheatreSecond Ave. (No. 126)347Peter Jay Sharp Theatre at Playwrights HorizonsW. 42nd St. (No. 416)128Players TheatreMacDougal St. (No. 115)248Playwrights Horizons MainstageW. 42nd St. (No. 416)198The Shed (Kenneth C. Griffin Theater)545 W. 30th St.500Romulus Linney Courtyard TheatreW. 42nd St. (No. 480)191SoHo PlayhouseVandam St. (No. 15)178St. Luke's TheatreW. 46th St. (No. 308)178Stage 42W. 42nd St. (No. 422)499Studio SeaviewW. 43rd St. (No. 305)296Susan & Ronald Frankel TheatreW. 52nd St. (No. 511)100Theater 555W. 42nd St. (No. 555)130The Theater at St. Clement’sW. 46th St. (No. 423)161WP TheaterBroadway (No. 2162)108Theatre at St. JeansE. 76th St. (No. 150)204Theatre Three at Theatre RowW. 42nd St. (No. 410)199Triad TheatreW. 72nd St. (No. 158)130Vineyard TheatreE. 15th St. (No. 108)132Westside Theatre, Downstairs TheatreW. 43rd St. (No. 407)249Westside Theatre, Upstairs Theatre270
See also Little Theatre Movement Little Theatre Guild of Great Britain Off West End Upstairs at the Downstairs
References
External links Internet Off-Broadway Database Off-Broadway League