- 38 Commerce Street has served as many things, including a farm, brewery, tobacco warehouse, and box factory.
- In 1924, The Cherry Lane Theater, New York’s oldest active off-Broadway venue, opened.
- The theater, originally called The Cherry Lane Playhouse, was founded by members of the Provincetown Players, including Edna St. Vincent Millay.
- Cherry Lane is part of the Avante Garde and countercultural movements and associated particularly with the Theater of the Absurd and The Living Theater.
- The theater has showcased some of the boldest and most innovative productions from writers F. Scott Fitzgerald, Eugene O’Neill, Clifford Odets, Samuel Beckett, Edward Albee, and David Mamet.
- Acting Alumni include James Dean, Barbra Streisand, James Earl Jones, Gene Hackman, John Malkovich, Kevin Bacon, and Joan Cusack.
- The theater appears in many films, including Reds, Godspell, and Mo’ Better Blues.
- The Cherry Lane Theatre is an intimate space, and viewers feel a personal connection with the actors on stage.