MANHATTAN — The Upright Citizens Brigade is leaving the Chelsea theater it has occupied for nearly 15 years for a new home on West 42nd Street.
The improv and sketch-comedy group, which has operated out of a 152-seat theater at 307 W. 26th St. for 14 years, plans to move into the 160-seat theater at 555 W. 42nd St. that was previously home to the Pearl Theatre Company. The theater group closed earlier this year after filing for bankruptcy.
“The move is the culmination of a long search for an ADA-compliant performance space that will better serve the diverse group of performers, students and patrons that make up the UCB community,” the group, co-founded by actress and comedian Amy Poehler, said in a statement.
It hopes to start performing at the new space by the beginning of December, the Wall Street Journal reported.
“We have a very diverse group of students, performers and patrons and we want to be able to serve all of them,” artistic director Shannon O’Neill told the paper. “Right now, the Chelsea theater doesn’t allow that.”
UCB spokeswoman Sam Srinivasan said the improv group plans to vacate its existing space by the end of November, noting she wasn’t sure what would become of the space after the move. The relocation will not affect the group's East Village outpost.
“The Chelsea theater has served us very well, but I’m very excited about what we’re going to be able to do in this new space,” O’Neill told the Journal.
UCB “will be celebrating the move with special shows saying farewell to Chelsea and hello to Hell’s Kitchen,” the group's statement said.
