About us

The historic Connelly Theater is a beautiful 99-150-seat jewelbox space in the heart of NYC's East Village that now serves as a home for adventurous independent theater productions. Past productions include Sasha Velour’s Nightgowns: The Musical, The Crucible (Bedlam), Plano (Clubbed Thumb, Drama Desk-nominated), Mandy Patinkin in Concert: Diaries 2018 (New York Theatre Workshop), The Bengson’s The Lucky Ones (Ars Nova, Lortel and Drama Desk-nominated), Sinking Ship's A Hunger Artist (The Tank's Flint & Tinder series, Drama Desk-nominated), Jomama Jones’ DUAT (Soho Rep.), Mac Wellman's The Offending Gesture (The Tank/Flint & Tinder), Daniel Kitson's A Show for Christmas, The Lisps’ Futurity (Soho Rep. & Ars Nova, Lortel Award), Lyspinka! The Trilogy (TWEED), Mission Drift (The TEAM), The New York International Fringe Festival, Lucy Thurber's Monstrosity (13p), Anne Washburn's Apparition, and many others. The theater also serves as a location for film and television productions, including shows on HBO, Netflix, Amazon, FX, ABC, MTV, PBS, and many more. The building, originally an orphanage, dates back to the mid-1870s. The theater itself was once a choir hall, with the distinctive proscenium arch and raised stage added later.

Named one of NYC's best off-off-Broadway theaters by Time Out NY

Josh Luxenberg (Connelly Theater General Manager) is a playwright, director, and photographer. He is the co-artistic director of Sinking Ship Productions. His plays include Cassandra, an Agony (commissioned by the Getty Museum), The 7th Voyage of Egon Tichy (Sinking Ship/Theater in Quarantine; NY Times Critics Pick), A Hunger Artist (Connelly Theater/The Tank, nominated for two 2018 Drama Desk Awards, and winner of Summerhall's Lustrum Award for Excellence at the Edinburgh Fringe 2017), Powerhouse (New Ohio, O’Neill Playwrights Conference Finalist, NY Times Critics Pick)), Ocean (Mabou Mines Residency), Flatland (EST/Sloan Commission). Josh co-wrote THE DIAL, an interactive narrative augmented reality installation created by NightLight Labs (premiere at Sundance Film Festival 2019). In addition to his work at the Connelly, he has worked as a producer/curator around the city, including The Tank’s Flint & Tinder series (multiple Drama Desk Award nominations) and Sinking Ship’s Puppet Playlist. Josh has also worked as an assistant director at several major regional theaters and in NYC. He worked in the writer’s office of HBO’s The Wire, and is an alum of the Baltimore School for the Arts and Oberlin College.

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The Connelly Theater is part of Cornelia Connelly Center, a non-profit organization that champions under-resourced girls, empowering them to realize their full potential from middle school through college and beyond. All proceeds from theater rental go to the Center to support their middle school and Graduate Support program. 

For more information about the Connelly, please email us at theater@connellycenter.org.