Signature Theatre Company is an American theatre based in Manhattan, New York. It was founded in 1991 by James Houghton and is now led by Artistic Director Emily Shooltz.[1] Signature is known for their season-long focus on one artist's work.[2] It has been located in the Pershing Square Signature Center since 2012.
Signature Theatre Company New York main entrance on 42nd Street
Among its programs are the Residency One Program, celebrating a single playwright with multiple productions over the course of a year, and Legacy Program, which brings those playwrights back for additional productions. Signature also introduced Residency Five, a program that will feature early- and mid-career playwrights and guarantee them three full productions over the course of a five-year residency. In honor of its 20th anniversary, Signature launched a subsidized ticketing initiative designed to improve Off Broadway accessibility.[3][4]
James Houghton founded the theatre in a black box theater at 31 Bond Street in the NoHo neighborhood in 1991 at the Kampo Cultural Center (a venue that had focused on promoting Japanese calligraphy). The theatre focused on having a resident playwright of national stature with its first playwright Romulus Linney and Houghton led the company until just prior to his death in 2016.[2]
In 1997 the theatre moved to 555 West 42nd Street on Theatre Row.[2] In 1999 software developer Peter Norton donated $600,000 for renovations to the 42nd Street venue which was renamed Signature Theatre Company at the Peter Norton Space.[6] Their lease at this location was scheduled to expire at the end of 2011, and the company began a search for a long term home.[7]
In 2004 it was announced that the Signature had signed on to be an anchor tenant of a new $700 million performing arts center on the site of the destroyed World Trade Center site. It was to be designed by Gehry Partners LLP and Snøhetta.[8] By 2007, plans for the WTC Performing Arts Center remained stalled, the city offered Fiterman Hall as a possible home, but that plan also fell through.[7]
In October 2008, Signature announced the creation of the Pershing Square Signature Center, a block east of their former home, which opened in 2012 and was designed by Frank Gehry Architects, the architect's first project for a theatre company.[9][10] The space reflected a significant increase in Signature's audience capacity.[11]
The Pearl Theatre moved into the old Signature space but that company declared bankruptcy in 2017.
Paige Evans took over for Houghton as Artistic Director in 2016,[12] and in 2018, Harold Wolpert took over from Erika Mallin as Executive Director.[13] Wolpert remained through June 30, 2021.[14] In 2024 Emily Shoolz became Artistic Director. [15]
"Award Archives," Outer Critics Circle, 2008. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-04-23. Retrieved 2009-04-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
