NYC's oldest off-Broadway theater, built in 1817 as a farm silo, where staff report a stagehand's ghost, a lady in white, and disembodied rehearsal sounds in an empty house.
38 Commerce Street, New York, NY 10014
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Ticket prices vary by production. Check cherrylanetheatre.org for current shows and pricing.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Interior theater; accessible seating available
Equipment
No Photos
Est. 1817 · Oldest continuously operating off-Broadway theater in New York City · Built 1817 as a farm silo; also served as brewery, tobacco warehouse, and box factory · Co-founded as a theater by Edna St. Vincent Millay in 1924 · World premiere of Samuel Beckett's Happy Days, September 17, 1961 · Acquired by A24 in 2023; reopened after renovation September 2025
The structure at 38 Commerce Street dates to 1817, built as a farm silo on what was then working agricultural land in Greenwich Village before the neighborhood urbanized. Over the following century it served multiple industrial purposes: a brewery, a tobacco warehouse, a box factory. The building changed function repeatedly without being demolished, which is part of why it survived long enough to be repurposed as a theater.
In 1923, four individuals — Evelyn Vaughn, William S. Rainey, Reginald Travers, and poet Edna St. Vincent Millay — collaborated to convert the structure into a performance venue. They named it the Cherry Lane Playhouse. The inaugural reviewed production was Saturday Night by Robert Presnell, which opened February 9, 1924.
The theater became an important venue for experimental American drama. Samuel Beckett's Happy Days had its world premiere at the Cherry Lane on September 17, 1961, directed by Alan Schneider. Works by Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, and Sam Shepard were staged there during the theater's most prominent decades. After financial difficulties in 2010, the venue stabilized under Angelina Fiordellisi. In 2023, A24 and Taurus Investment Holdings purchased the theater for slightly over $10 million, marking A24's first theatrical venue acquisition. Following renovations, it reopened on September 8, 2025.
Sources
The Cherry Lane's ghost tradition spans three named phenomena, documented primarily by tour operators covering Greenwich Village haunts. The most practically disruptive is the figure staff call Charles — described as a former stagehand in suspenders with rolled-up sleeves. He is credited with tools clanging in the dark when no one is backstage, props appearing in the wrong places, and occasional physical contact described as a push when someone is standing in the wrong spot. Theater workers have adapted to his presence to the point of addressing him by name and factoring his activity into production logistics.
The second figure, the Lady in White, is described in period-consistent dress, appearing near the balcony or backstage, with sightings sometimes accompanied by a faint scent of lavender. One theory circulated by ghost tour operators connects her to the building's brewery era — a death under unnamed circumstances — while another casts her as an actress. Neither account has a named source or historical record to support it.
The third phenomenon, the Phantom Performance, is the most atmospheric: witnesses report hearing the sounds of a show playing in an empty theater — footsteps on the stage boards, voices reciting lines, applause from seats that hold no one. Production cameras capturing the theater when it is dark have not recorded corresponding visual activity, according to tour accounts. The Cherry Lane's long history as a venue for serious experimental theater — plays that deal with death, suffering, and psychological extremity — may contribute to why this particular ghost tradition developed there rather than at a more mainstream venue.
Notable Entities
The theater presents Off-Broadway productions year-round at its 167-seat main stage and 60-seat studio. The building's pre-theatrical history — farm silo, brewery, tobacco warehouse — and ghost lore are part of the venue's public identity.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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