Forget Broadway.
Going Underground: A look at the “Off-Off-Broadway” theater scene this Fall
By Laura Rohrman

Forget Broadway. Forget Off-Broadway. Savvy New Yorkers know that they don’t have to wait a year or to spend half of their weekly paychecks in order to see good theater – that’s what the tourists are for. A real New Yorker heads away from the glittering lights and into the underground – the “Off-Off” Broadway sector. The more “Offs” the show has, the more daring the performance. So why don’t more out-of-towners just take their chances? Why are so many people waiting in line to see Lion King when they could discover the next O’Neill and even have him sitting next to them at a small theatre? I think the answer is simple—the mainstream theater public simply doesn’t know very much about the “Off-Off” scene in New York City. It’s a sub-culture that only die-hards seem to enjoy and understand. But consider this: every hit play starts somewhere, and it isn’t on Broadway. Some fabulous unknown writer sits for hours in a local coffee shop with little or no money and writes a play. The play is work-shopped at a small theatre company on a shoestring budget. An upstart critic writes a review. The play is submitted to a festival. Then another. And on and on it goes, until one day the right producer hears about the play and produces it with a big marketing budget behind it. Then, suddenly, this play that started so low is the taste of the town, has its name and the name of its author plastered all over Times Square. Urinetown, Rent and Matt and Ben are just a few examples of such success stories. It may sound far-fetched, but it happens. Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen often enough; most of the underground theatre companies, writers, actors, directors and producers are barely keeping their feet on the ground and don’t have the resources to get noticed. Who knows how many plays worthy of the Broadway attention are quietly fading away just a few blocks away from its neon lights.