Dionysus Theatre Complex

Legit venues expand, sweatshops closing

By ROBERT HOFLER NEW YORK -- Just as Chinatown ate Little Italy, the theater district is moving southward to devour the fashion district or, as it was known in its true plebian heyday, the garment district.

The Barrow Group and Workshop Theater Co. are joined this month by the Abingdon Theater, which opened last week with Laurence Luckinbill's "Teddy Tonight."

All three companies, plus much rehearsal space and the Barrow Gallery, are located at 312 W. 36th St., once a Con Ed transformer station. Next year, the Barrow will expand its arts complex with a 99-seater.

New Revelation

Up a few blocks, the new Revelation Theater inaugurates its 155-seater at 334 West 39th Street in January with Rob Nash's "Holy Cross Sucks!" On a far grander scale, there will soon be the $20 million 37 Arts complex at 37th and Ninth, skedded to open in summer or fall 2003 with three or four theaters.

Granddaddy status, however, will always belong to the Zipper, which led the legit onslaught into fashion land when it opened its 240-seater at 336 W. 37th St. exactly 11 months ago with Charles L. Mee's "True Love."

All these venues are crammed into only six square blocks between Eighth and 10th avenues in the upper 30s. Add the Drama Book Shop, newly ensconced on West 40th off Eighth, and it is a veritable theater district born virtually overnight.

"People call it the fashion district, and that's why space is available here," says John McCormack, one of four directors at the Zipper, a former distribution center for -- what else -- zippers. "The fashion (business) is leaving. The sweatshops are closing up. This is the last relic of manufacturing in New York City."

Long ago, the upper 30s on the West Side were zoned for the manufacture of garments. "Now you can see one of these fashion businesses packing up about once a week," McCormack surmises. "We took their junk off the street and made a theater out of it."

As a result, theatergoers on a date can actually cuddle up in one of the Zipper's many threadbare sofas while they take in a play. In less than a year, the theater has emerged as one of the most high-profile Off Broadway venues, having followed the Mee play with "Reno," Alan Cumming's production of "Elle" and now "Betty Rules," directed by Michael Greif of "Rent" fame.

General contractor on the Zipper is the theater's co-owner, Lee Davis, whose Big Apple Interiors just finished the Abingdon and is completing work on the Revelation. Although Davis has been renovating everything from galleries to apartments for 20 years, theaters in the West 30s have occupied him full time for the past two. "The ceilings are the key here," he says. "You can get the sight lines and the necessary rake." Big plus: There aren't a whole lot of columns either.

Revelation's Leslie J. Smith may enthusiastically dedicate his new company to tyro scribes, but real estate remains the rock foundation of any successful legit venture, he points out. His resume includes Naked Angels, New York Theater Workshop and the Public.

"I looked at companies that had shown promise and gone away and those that had survived," says the artistic director. "The real common denominator was whether or not they had a space."

Revelations' monthly rent runs about $10,000 for its offices, two rehearsal spaces and one 155-seat theater. Cost of conversion from garage to theater ran $250,000, with an additional $75,000 needed to interface with the city (filing fees, review plans, security systems, etc.) in order to rezone.

"Broadway has been essentially taken over by corporate America," says Davis, "so individuals who want to produce are going south to the fashion district. It's a whole new evolution."

Daylight-saving time ends Oct. 27. Broadway producers will remind theatergoers to move clocks back by announcing their "Tuesdays at 7" initiative, which moves the curtain time forward to 7 p.m. on Tuesdays this winter.

Led by Disney, the Dodgers and Cameron Mackintosh, most producers will participate. A few shows, such as "Mamma Mia!" and "Hairspray," will keep their 8 p.m. curtain on Tuesdays since tix have been sold for much of winter 2003.

So far the theater-district restaurant biz hasn't gone berserk. Three decades ago, when Broadway went up at 7:30 p.m. instead of 8:30 p.m., restaurateurs freaked, leading to the 8 p.m. curtain.

How are Broadway eateries coping this time out? Phone calls to Angus McIndoe, Barrymore's, Joe Allen and Orso recorded little or no hysterics on the other end.