Vivian Beaumont Theatre - History

History

The theater is named after Vivian Beaumont Allen, a former actress and heiress to the May Department Stores fortune, who donated $3 million for a building to house a permanent dramatic repertory company at Lincoln Center in 1958. Mrs. Allen died in 1962, and after several delays and estimated construction costs of $9.6 million, the Vivian Beaumont opened on October 21, 1965 with a revival of the 1835 play Danton's Death by Georg Büchner. The cast included James Earl Jones and Stacy Keach.

From 1965-66, the theater was operated by the Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center, under the direction of Jules Irving and Herbert Blau; Blau, who directed Danton's Death, resigned that first year, while Irving remained as sole director through 1972. From 1973 until 1977, it was managed by the New York Shakespeare Festival, under the direction of Joseph Papp. Following a three-year period of inactivity, it reopened in 1980 under the auspices of the Lincoln Center Theater Company, directed by Richmond Crinkley. He had the ad hoc assistance of a five-member directorate consisting of Woody Allen, Sarah Caldwell, Liviu Ciulei, Robin Phillips, and Ellis Rabb, with Edward Albee as the company playwright.

Because of differences between architect I.M. Pei and acoustician Cyril M. Harris, a $6.5 million interior renovation of the Vivian Beaumont led to it being closed between late 1981 and 1983. In addition to a proscenium arch, the renovation resulted in improved acoustics and sightlines, aisles that are less steep, and a slight expansion in the number of seats, from 1,143 to about 1,200. The original horseshoe seating was eliminated in favor of more conventional seating. The theater has again been renovated to improve its acoustics and technical facilities several times over the years.

Since 1985, the Vivian Beaumont has been operated by Lincoln Center Theater (now under the direction of André Bishop and Bernard Gersten). On occasion the theater is rented to commercial producers, such as Alexander H. Cohen and Hildy Parks, who presented Peter Brook's production of La Tragedie de Carmen in 1983.

In the lower level of the building is the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, originally known as the Forum and renamed in 1972, an intimate, 299-seat venue in which Lincoln Center Theater presents its Off-Broadway-style plays and musicals.

In 2012, the Lincoln Center Theater opened the Claire Tow Theater on the Beaumont's roof, a new stage that features work by emerging playwrights, directors and designers, and charges just $20 for every ticket. It operates with an annual budget of about $2 million and stages three to four productions a year. The auditorium is named for Claire Tow, whose husband, Leonard, a board member, donated $7.5 million.