Performing Arts Library Exhibit Honors Second Stage

Open now and on display in the Plaza level lobby inside of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Second Stage Theater: Four Decades of Producing Living American Playwrights is celebrating the decades of plays and musicals that have defined the iconic theater as the home for living American playwrights.

Second Stage Theater--started with the idea to give worthy American plays a second chance on stage--started in a cramped 100-seat space on the 16th floor of a hotel on the Upper West Side. Since then, Second Stage Theater (2ST for those in the know) has gone on to become a home for emerging writers and actors, having discovered and nurtured some of the most prominent theater artists of recent years, including Annette Bening, Timothy Daly, Taye Diggs, Laurence Fishburne, and Cynthia Nixon, among countless others.

This exhibit will focus on the people, the writers, the designs, and the spaces that have made Second Stage Theater "an oasis for smart, modern theatergoers" (The New York Times). See the evolution of the Theater through set models, production photography, original papers, and personal recorded accounts from the artists who have made Second Stage their home.

This exhibit will be on display until Saturday, August 17 and it is accessible during regular library hours. Click here for information about the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.