THE ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY was the brainchild of Gene Feist and his wife, actress Elizabeth
Owens. Feist wanted to do classic plays by authors like Ibsen
and Shaw and thought that a subscription series at an affordable
price would be of interest to New Yorkers. Roundabout's first
production was of Strindberg's The Father was presented in a 150-seat theatre in the basement of a supermarket
in Chelsea in 1965. In that first season, the Company had 400
subscribers who paid only $5 for three plays.
In 1974, Roundabout expanded to two theatres: Roundabout Stage
One was a converted 299-seat movie theatre on 23rd street, and
the original location was dubbed Roundabout Stage Two. For the
next ten years both theaters presented plays that attracted well-known
actors such as Kim Hunter, who starred in Anton Chekhov's The
Cherry Orchard, and Earle Hyman in the title role in Othello.
By 1979 the Company grew in popularity and boasted 15,000 subscribers.
Ivan Turgenez's A Month in the Country with Tammy Grimes and Philip Bosco was a smash hit; other artistic
triumphs included John Osborne's Look Back in Anger starring Malcom McDowell, Shelagh Delaney's A Taste of Honey with Amanda Plummer and Valerie French and The Chalk Garden by Enid Bagnold, starring Irene Worth who won an Obie Award for
her performance.
In 1983, Todd Haimes joined Roundabout as managing director and
discovered that the company had a $2.5 million deficit on an annual
budget of a $2.5 million and had been in Chapter XI since 1978.
Two weeks after being hired, Haimes was informed by the board
of directors that the theatre had to be closed down, but in the
eleventh hour, it was funded with a substantial contribution by
then board chairman Chris Yegen, which kept the theatre in operation
temporarily.
In 1984, Roundabout moved to Union Square where Tammany Hall was
converted into a 499-seat theatre. During the renovation, Roundabout
staged its most acclaimed production to date: Jim Dale's and Stockard
Channing's performances in Joe Egg by Peter Nichols were lauded by critics all over the country.
The production, directed by Arvin Brown, opened in December, then
moved to Broadway. It won the 1985 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer
Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Revival.
In 1991, Roundabout moved to its current location on Broadway
and 45th Street. In 1995 Roundabout celebrated its 30th Anniversary
and the opening of the Laura Pels Theatre. The second stage, which was an empty cabaret space adjacent to
RTC's stage right, is an intimate, state-of-the-art proscenium
theatre with 399 seats. The Theatre, dedicated to producing new
plays, began its season with the American premiere of Harold Pinter's
Moonlight, starring Jason Robards and Blythe Danner, followed by the American
premiere of Brian Friel's Molly Sweeney, starring Jason Robards, Catherine Byrne and Alfred Molina.
On April 29, 1996, London's Almeida Theatre Company sent four of its finest to the Laura Pels stage in an effort
to raise funds for its small but equally respected venue across
the pond. Francesca Annis, Ralph Fiennes, Natasha Richardson and
Alan Rickman performed Love in a Cold Climate, a collection of poetry and passages from such great writers
as xxxxx and William Shakespeare.
--Portions excerpted from the Roundabout Theatre site
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Love in a Cold Climate