St. Ann’s Warehouse was originally located at the National Historic Landmark Church of St. Ann and the Holy Trinity during the 1980s. The beginning of the theater mainly produced classical music and opera programs, along with the first American puppet opera. As the years went on, St. Ann’s enjoyed more success during a period in which more popular actors began appearing in the theater’s performances. It was this popularity that lead to the rising achievements of the theater, which allowed them to acquire more acknowledgment from the media. During this era, the production of In the Time of the Comedian Harmonists took place which later went on to be an award-winning show. On the tenth anniversary of St. Ann’s, Rolling Stone magazine called it “the guiding light to the New York City avant-rock scene” (History). Rolling Stone Magazine has over twelve million readers in the United States alone, which led to increasing popularity for St. Ann’s. The success of the theater could be attributed to the combination of unique performances and rave reviews about their productions. In 1991, St. Ann’s presented its first thematic multi-artist performance of Greetings From Tim Buckley that was later followed by numerous Halloween programs such as Nevermore: Readings from Edgar Allen Poe. The popularity and success of the theater continued to grow throughout the years. This caused the people of St. Ann’s to separate from the National Historic Landmark Church of St. Ann and the Holy Trinity and find a building they could call their own.
St. Ann’s was successful at the National Historic Landmark Church of St. Ann and the Holy Trinity for twenty-one years. While giving performances in the Church, St. Ann’s was forced to primarily focus on music performances. The Church was unable to offer enough space to the theater in order to showcase large-scale productions. Other problems occurred while showing performances in the Church that led to the separation between the people of the Church and the theater. One of the major problems was the fact that Church services prevented continuous runs of plays. The play To You, the Birdie! (Phedre) ran for five weeks straight before the Church put a stop to the production. The theater at St. Ann’s grew worried that having to cancel well-liked shows would lead to a decrease in success and popularity. Therefore, the theater decided to separate from the Church. Unfortunately, the Church and theater did not have an amicable separation. The theater believed that Reverend Angela V. Askew had an aversion to the program after it gained success so they later moved to 38 Water Street in Dumbo, Brooklyn in September 2001. This building was
once a spice-milling factory that was converted into a theater. Meanwhile, at the newbuilding, they were able to expand to more large-scale concerts and theater productions. Their new building would allow the theater to grow in popularity. They no longer had to fit the performances into the space they were allotted. Instead, they could use the expanded the theater todisplay grander shows that could showcase the unique side to what was now renamed St. Ann’s Warehouse.This old spice-mill factory, which was located right across the street from the current St. Ann’s Warehouse, was originally going to be used for apartments. Yet, the construction on these apartments was not set to be built for another year. Therefore, this gave the people of St. Ann’s Warehouse the ability to rent out the empty spice-mill factory to continuing with theater production while they started working on their permanent building.
In the fall of 2015, St. Ann’s Warehouse moved across the street to 45 Water Street which was a historic tobacco warehouse. This new building was estimated to seat about fifteen hundred people. Yet the construction of this theater faced difficulties from the beginning. The old tobacco warehouse was a 19th-century building with walls but almost no roof. Many people wanted to leave the building as a national landmark. The people of St. Ann’s Warehouse were willing to take the risk because their “vision was to turn the Brooklyn waterfront into a cultural center by transforming the Tobacco Warehouse into both a theater and a public arts space,” according to director Susan Feldman (Healey). Feldman also believed that the theater was drawn to the tobacco warehouse because of the different ways people could express their artistic ability in that space. The building was set up in such a way that the stage area was able to change for every production. At the time, Feldman explained, ''It leaves us maybe having to leave Dumbo. Perhaps even leaving Brooklyn. None of us want that, but the theater we do at St. Ann's doesn't easily fit into pre-existing spaces that we've seen, and we want to continue to do that work” (Healey). The development of this building was postponed due to the fact that a new ruling stated that any structures from the 19th century must be turned over to federally-protected parkland. However, what allowed the St. Ann’s Warehouse team the right to the tobacco warehouse was a ruling from Judge Vitaliano that stated that the National Parks Service, when redrawing the map of Empire Ferry State Park, made an error. The tobacco warehouse was not applicable for inclusion in the park because it was not appropriate for outdoor recreation. Nevertheless, because this building is a protected landmark, the builders had to get resourceful in order to hang the
marquee. The warehouse being a landmark meant the marquee could not be directly attached to the building so a “partnership with Marvel Architects, engineers, and electricians resulted in developing a 23′ tall pole system [so] that the letterforms could be safely attached to and electrically wired while still feeling like it had been there all along”(St. Ann's Warehouse Signage Program).The tobacco warehouse-turned-theater now called St. Ann’s Warehouse won the 2016 American Institution of Architects New York Chapter Design Award for its amazing architectural design and the 2017 AIA National Architecture Awards.
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| St. Ann’s Warehouse production of The Tempest in 2017 |
Works Cited:
Bahrampour, Tara. "St. Ann's Arts Group Inaugurates Longest Run." The New York Times. The New York Times, 09 Feb. 2002. Web. 09 Apr. 2017. <http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/10/nyregion/neighborhood-report-dumbo-st-ann-s-arts-group-inaugurates-longest-run.html>.
Harris, Elizabeth A. "Judge Blocks City’s Proposal for 2 Buildings in Brooklyn." The New York Times. The New York Times, 10 Apr. 2011. Web. 08 Apr. 2017. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/11/nyregion/11warehouse.html>.
Healy, Patrick. "St. Ann’s Warehouse Scrambles to Find New Home." The New York Times. The New York Times, 03 June 2011. Web. 30 Mar. 2017. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/04/theater/st-anns-warehouse-in-brooklyn-facing-a-nomadic-future.html>.
"History." St. Ann's Warehouse. St. Ann's Warehouse, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2017. <http://stannswarehouse.org/about-st-anns-warehouse/history/>.
McGee, Celia. "St. Ann’s Mother Hen and Her Crowded Nest." The New York Times. The New York Times, 18 Mar. 2007. Web. 30 Mar. 2017. <https://mobile.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/theater/18mcgee.html>.
"Rollingstone.com Traffic and Demographic Statistics by Quantcast." Rollingstone.com Traffic and Demographic Statistics by Quantcast. Quantcast, 09 Apr. 2017. Web. 09 Apr. 2017. <https://www.quantcast.com/rollingstone.com#trafficCard>.
"St. Ann's Warehouse." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Mar. 2017. Web. 30 Mar. 2017. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Ann%27s_Warehouse>.
"St. Ann's Warehouse Signage Program." Flyleaf Creative Inc. Flyleaf Creative Inc., n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2017. <http://www.flyleafcreative.com/client/st-anns-warehouse-signage-program/>.
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