FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is Off-Broadway Theatre?
Off-Broadway has long been the birthplace for many of America's greatest plays and musicals. The popular AVENUE Q puppets initially came to life in the Vineyard Theatre Off-Broadway.
Of the last nine Pulitzer Prize winning plays, eight had their start Off-Broadway: THREE TALL WOMEN, THE YOUNG MAN FROM ATLANTA, RENT, HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE, WIT, DINNER WITH FRIENDS, PROOF, and TOPDOG/ UNDERDOG.
Many of the musicals that you think of as "Broadway musicals" were first presented Off-Broadway, such as A CHORUS LINE, AIN'T MISBEHAVIN', HAIR, URINETOWN, and LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. And, of course, the world's longest running musical, THE FANTASTICKS, is an Off-Broadway classic.
Off-Broadway is also home to most of the event and interactive shows that you've heard of. BLUE MAN GROUP (now in Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, and Berlin, too) and STOMP (another international touring sensation), THE AWESOME 80S PROM, etc., all first became popular Off-Broadway.
And when you think of the actors who have considered Off-Broadway home, you will understand why Off-Broadway is the heart of American Theatre. All of these Broadway, television and/or movie actors have won the Village Voice's OBIE awards for their performances Off-Broadway:
F. Murray Abraham, Danny Aiello, Jane Alexander, Eileen Atkins, Courtney B. Vance, Kevin Bacon, Kathy Baker, Alec Baldwin, Martin Balsam, Lisa Banes, Christine Baranski, Barbara Barrie, Kathy Bates, Brian Bedford, Mark Blum, Philip Bosco, Dennis Boutsikaris, Andre Braugher, Nell Carter, John Cazale, Joseph Chaikin, Kathleen Chalfant, Stockard Channing, Glenn Close, James Coco, Frances Conroy, Michael Cristofer, Hume Cronyn, Lindsay Crouse, Constance Cummings, Jeff Daniels, William Daniels, Ruby Dee, Lea DeLaria, Anne DiSalvo, Olympia Dukakis, Robert Duvall, Jill Eikenberry, Hector Elizondo, Tovah Feldshuh, Conchata 
Ferrell, Fyvush Finkel, Hallie Foote, Elizabeth Franz, Morgan Freeman, Victor Garber, Vincent Gardenia,Tony Goldwyn, Cliff Gorman, Harold Gould, Farley Granger, Lee Grant, Michael Gross, Bob Gunton, Fred Gwynne, Rosemary Harris, Ed Harris, Anthony Heald, John Heard, Paul Hecht, Eileen Heckart, Edward Herrmann, Judd Hirsch, Felicity Huffman, Mary Beth Hurt, William Hurt, Amy Irving, Bill Irwin, Judith Ivey, Dana Ivey, Anne Jackson, Cherry Jones, James Earl Jones, Richard Jordan, Stacy Keach, David Patrick Kelly, E. Katherine Kerr, 
Kevin Kline, Swoosie Kurtz, Nathan Lane, Frank Langella, Linda Lavin, Roscoe Lee, John Leguizamo, Ron Leibman, Christopher Lloyd, Tony Lo Bianco, Joseph Maher, John Malkovich, Camryn Manheim, Nancy Marchand, Roberta Maxwell, Rue McClanahan, James McDaniel, Kenneth McMillan, Colm Meaney, S. Epatha Merkerson, Laurie Metcalf, Donald Moffat, Debra Monk, Isabell Monk, David Morse, Zero Mostel, Brian Murray, Kathy Najimy, Edward Norton, Mary-Louise Parker, Estelle Parsons, James Patterson, Will Patton, Pamela Payton-Wright, Austin Pendleton, Martha Plimpton, Lonny Price, Everett Quinton, Lynn Redgrave, Pamela Reed, Roger Rees, Ron Rifkin, William Schallert, Liev Schreiber, Marian Seldes, Josef Sommer, John Spencer, Jean Stapleton, Frances Sternhagen, Meryl Streep, Jessica Tandy, Lynne Th
igpen, Sada Thompson, Rip Torn, John Turturro, Christopher Walken, Eli Wallach, Sam Waterston, Kathleen Widdoes, Dianne Wiest, Mary Louise Wilson, Elizabeth Wilson, Joseph Wiseman, Charlayne Woodard, James Woods, Irene Worth, and Jeffrey Wright.
Off-Broadway Theater is where the New York City theatregoers go to hear about the newest, most exciting and most artistically challenging Off-Broadway plays and musicals first.
Off-Broadway theatre is less expensive than Broadway shows, more diverse, less amplified, and often in neighborhoods where you can get a meal at a small ethnic restaurant for a modest price.
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