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| Bushwick Starr | |
|---|---|
| Name | Bushwick Starr |
| Type | Theater |
| Location | Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York City |
| Opened | 2007 |
| Capacity | 120 |
| Artistic director | Noah Himmelstein (former: Lee Sunday Evans, Alex Timbers) |
Bushwick Starr is an independent theater company and performance venue located in Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York City. Founded in 2007, it became known for presenting avant-garde plays, experimental performance, and commissioning new works by emerging and established artists. The company cultivated links with off-Broadway movements, downtown performance communities, and national theater festivals.
The organization emerged amid the post-industrial arts migration to Brooklyn alongside neighborhoods such as Williamsburg, DUMBO, and Gowanus, intersecting with institutions like the Public Theater, Lincoln Center, and La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. Founders and early collaborators drew inspiration from downtown practitioners associated with Wooster Group, The Kitchen, and Patti Smith-adjacent scenes, while neighboring cultural anchors such as BRIC Arts Media and New York Theatre Workshop influenced programming networks. Over time the company developed relationships with presenters including Theatre Communications Group, New York Foundation for the Arts, and festivals like Under the Radar Festival and Humana Festival of New American Plays. The venue hosted artists connected to collectives and ensembles such as Nature Theater of Oklahoma, Mabou Mines, Complicite, and artists who had worked at St. Ann's Warehouse and Kennedy Center. The company navigated real estate pressures in Brooklyn, mirroring trends seen by PS122 (Performance Space New York), HERE Arts Center, and 52nd Street Project.
Programming emphasized new play development, cross-disciplinary collaborations, and risk-taking performance practices associated with directors and playwrights linked to Anne Washburn, Jeremy O. Harris, Sarah Kane, Eddie Izzard, and Quartet-style ensembles. The mission aligned with funders and partners such as National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, Bloomberg Foundation, and philanthropic entities like Ford Foundation and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Seasons included curated series resonant with artists from Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), repertory experiments reminiscent of Classic Stage Company, and site-responsive work in conversation with Fluxus-influenced practices. The Starr commissioned playwrights and directors with ties to Victoria Wood, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Annie Baker, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and choreographers who had worked with Martha Graham-inspired companies.
Located in a converted industrial storefront in Bushwick, the building shared neighborhood context with galleries in Jeffrey Deitch-adjacent blocks, artist spaces near Sotheby's satellite exhibitions, and performance neighbors such as Irving Plaza and Knitting Factory. The black box theater featured flexible seating (approximately 120 seats), technical rigs compatible with touring designers who had credits at Tony Awards-winning houses, and backstage areas used by designers who collaborated with institutions like Roundabout Theatre Company and Manhattan Theatre Club. The facility supported sound design standards akin to productions at Carnegie Hall adjunct spaces and lighting practices familiar to staff from The Shed and Guggenheim Museum performance programs.
The Starr presented early productions and premieres that launched artists toward collaborations with Broadway producers, leading to transfers or artists' subsequent work at The Public Theater, Atlantic Theater Company, Second Stage Theater, Playwrights Horizons, and New York Theatre Workshop. Premieres included works by playwrights and directors who later associated with Pulitzer Prize finalists, Obie Awards recipients, and Edinburgh Festival Fringe participants. The venue hosted cross-disciplinary shows involving collaborators noted for work with Björk, David Byrne, Philip Glass, and designers who have credits at Metropolitan Opera and Royal Shakespeare Company.
Leadership over the years included artistic directors, managing directors, and producers with professional trajectories that intersected with staff from Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Shakespeare in the Park, and institutional administrators who engaged in fellowships from Ford Foundation and Mellon Foundation. Resident artists and dramaturgs had networks spanning Columbia University School of the Arts, New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Pratt Institute, and Yale School of Drama. Technical staff often worked on projects at Lincoln Center Theater and with touring companies represented by agencies such as ICM Partners and CAA.
Community programs connected the venue to neighborhood organizations and service partners like Bushwick Community Plan-adjacent groups, arts education initiatives analogous to Young People's Chorus of New York City, and partnerships with local schools in the New York City Department of Education system. Outreach drew on models from 29 Rooms-style participatory projects, artist residencies similar to MacDowell fellowships, and pedagogical exchanges with programs at SummerStage and National Performance Network.
Critical responses positioned the company within a constellation of influential off-off-Broadway incubators, earning coverage in publications and critics associated with The New York Times, The New Yorker, Time Out New York, Vulture, and arts journalists who also cover The Atlantic and The Guardian. Alumni artists advanced to collaborations with major institutions like Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Whitney Museum of American Art, and presenters at Frieze Art Fair and Venice Biennale-linked projects. The organization's legacy is reflected in networks of playwrights, directors, designers, and administrators who continue to shape American theater and performance practice.
Category:Theatres in Brooklyn Category:Off-Off-Broadway