Rebuilding Theater 86: Benefit Reading & Silent Auction

See our raw, unfinished new home before our October grand opening. Help us build it: wine, music, a Bulgakov reading & a silent auction.
About this Event

Rebuilding Theater 86: Benefit Reading & Silent Auction

This past January, after ten years of building a theatrical home from the ground up, Theater 86 lost its space at West Park Presbyterian Church on the Upper West Side. The church was offered $33 million in cash for the building — but it's landmarked, and the sale hinges on reversing that status first. To help make the case that the building is too costly to maintain, tenants were pushed out, leaving it empty. After a long fight, we found ourselves without a home.

But we're rebuilding — and we want you to be part of it.

We've signed a lease on a new space on West 39th Street, steps from Port Authority. Our landlord gave us four months to complete the build-out, and rent begins in September. We're racing against the clock, and we need help getting there.

On Sunday, August 16th, join us for a first look at the space — raw, unfinished, full of potential — ahead of our official opening production this October: Mikhail Bulgakov's The Heart of a Dog.

The Evening

Wine and light refreshments, live music, and a preview reading from The Heart of a Dog, featuring:

• Hazen Cuyler
• Michael Donaldson
• James Hallett
• Ariel Polanco
• Tom Schubert
• Mark K Simmons
• Di Zhu

Followed by a silent auction, including:

• Dinner for two at Eleven Madison Park
• A headshot session with a world-renowned photographer
• Piano lessons with a Juilliard award-winning pianist
• Actor's business coaching with Robyne Parrish, Artistic Director of Arrow Rock Lyceum Theater
• Original paintings by world renowned artist Valery Yershov
• A pair of collectible Palekh porcelain plates, hand-painted with scenes from Pushkin's fairy tales

...with more to come.

Every ticket and every bid goes directly toward getting us through these next few months and onto our opening stage. Join us — not for a polished night, but a real one: watching Theater 86 rebuild, one step at a time.