Circle in the Square

Address

235 West 50th Street
New York, NY 10019

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Public Transport

By Subway:
1, C, E to 50th St
By Bus:
Take the M7, M20, M50, or M104 bus.

Accessibility

Box Office

50th St. Ground floor. Counter 43".
Parking

SVI Permit. Lot: 50th St. between Broadway & 8th Ave. Valet parking garage: Arcade next to theater.
Restroom

Womens: 1st lower level (theater level). Through double doors (on level ground near elevators) into hallway through door (33") to restrooms. Door 28.5". Stall door 22".Mens: 1st lower level. Door 25.5". Stall door 22.5".
Telephone

A telephone is located outside the washrooms.
Entrance

Double doors (each 35") at street level to box office.Escalator or thirty steps down to lower levels. Alternate entrance: Doors (each 34") through 1633 Broadway office building to elevators. Theater staff must be alerted to allow person using elevator into lower levels of theater. Tickets must be purchased before entry to lower levels of theater.
Water Fountain

Theater lobby (1st lower level), next to bar. Spout 42" No clear space
Wheelchair Info

Four sections of wheelchair seats in the last row, no stairs required.
Elevator/Escalator

There is an escalator down to the theatre level from the box office. An elevator is available that is accessible through the adjoining building, and an usher is available to escort patrons from the box office to the elevator.
Folding Armrests

No seats with folding armrests are available. There are four sections of wheelchair seats instead.
Seating

Theatre is 10 rows deep, with entrance at the level of the last row with no stairs. All rows in front of that require small stairs

Theater Description

Designed by architect Alan Sayles, Circle in the Square is one of two theatres in the Paramount Plaza office tower. Its much bigger sibling is the Gershwin Theatre. The theatre entrance lobbies are side by side but separated by a wall.

The Gershwin and Circle in the Square were built in 1970 when the Uris Brothers tore down the Capitol Theatre to build the tower (with the Gershwin originally being called the Uris Theatre).

It originally served as the uptown home to the Circle-in-the-Square repertory company. Their first production on Broadway, a revival of Mourning Becomes Electra, opened on November 15, 1972.

The theatre is below street level. It is one of only two Broadway houses with a thrust stage.

The building also houses the Circle in the Square Theatre School, the only accredited training conservatory associated with a Broadway theatre, which offers two two-year training programs, in acting and musical theatre.

The original Circle in the Square was founded by Paul Libin, Theodore Mann and Jose Quintero in 1951 and was located at 5 Sheridan Square (a brownstone) in Greenwich Village. The original Circle in the Square did not have a theater license, but Quintero was able to get a cabaret license; the production staff and off duty actors served as waiters if anyone insisted on ordering food or drinks. Many of the theater personnel, both acting and technical, lived on the premises. Even classical performances took place here: Pianist Grete Sultan, who later became a well known interpreter of New Music and was John Cage's close friend, performed Goldberg Variations by Johann Sebastian Bach here in January 1953. In 1960, the company moved to the Circle in the Square Downtown, at 159 Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village in a historic building built in 1917. Before it became the Circle in the Square Theatre this building first was a movie house followed by the original Amato Opera House. It was built by and operated by Italian-Americans, which was typical of the South Village in the late 19th/early 20th centuries. Many of these theaters in the South Village were, like the Circle in the Square, built or altered from other types of existing structures (in this case, a movie theater) both presaging the adaptive re-use movement of the late 20th century and illustrating the South Village's unique innovative contributions to the world of theater and architecture. In 2004, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation fought plans by the owners of the building to demolish the theater. This was part of a larger initiative by the organization to document and preserve the entire South Village. However, the theatre was demolished and another building was erected in its place.

Watch a video about the Circle in the Square Theatre at Spotlightonbroadway.com