Shocker: NYU Fucking Up Provincetown Playhouse Preservation

Hey, they never really cared about the historic dump in the first place, did they?

To the surprise of no one, but the dismay of everyone, NYU has carelessly and predictably screwed up the preservation of the Provincetown Playhouse. The whole world fought with the education behemoth last year when it announced it's intention to tear down the historic theatre, which gave birth to Eugene O'Neill and the whole of modern American theatre. After many community meetings and lots of bad press, NYU begrudgingly agreed to keep the theatre building in place and build its desired new law school structure around it, rather than destroy the entire address in favor of a new edifice.

Only, you gotta watch the assholes at NYU like a hawk or they'll tear down the Washington Square Arch while you're not looking. According to an article in The Villager, work was "put on hold on Aug. 18 after neighbors discovered that part of the historic playhouse wall that was to have been preserved had been removed."

Reactions were not mild. "The discovery of the missing wall segment last week outraged Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, and prompted Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer to demand on Monday that work related to the theater cease, except as related to structural stability, until the community is informed of the extent of the damage."

Alicia Hurley, N.Y.U. vice president for government and community engagement, and one of the biggest liars you'll ever want to meet, said "a portion of the north wall of the theater, dating from before 1916, was removed about three weeks ago when it was found to be made partly of rubble and unstable. She said she discovered the removal only last Thurs., Aug. 13...My office should have known about it and takes full responsibility for the communications gap,” Hurley said. Work as related to the theater will cease and will not resume until a report is made to the community within the next two weeks. “The final shoring up of one wall of the theater is being done this week to hold everything in place, and then we’ll take a break from work in the theater part of the project,” Hurley said."

Why don't they just tear down the whole thing one midnight, like developers sometimes do to get around the City, and get it over with. You know that's what they really want to do.

(Picture from Curbed.)

Provincetown Playhouse Saved!

Lost City hears that, reacting to an avalanche of criticism from all corners, NYU has backed off its plan to destroy the historic Provincetown Playhouse in Greenwich Village. An announcement is expected later today.

Details are sketchy, but the idea is the university—known for its cold-blooded passion for swinging wrecking balls at pieces of New York history—will keep the theatre building in place and build a new structure around it, rather than destroy the entire address in favor of a new edifice. NYU had recently been playing around with a bunch of half-assed half-measures such as keeping the original facade of the playhouse while destroying the rest, or building a theatre that looks like the original theatre back in 1916. But no one was satisfied with those compromises and opponents continued to call NYU every name in the book, threatening to undermine the fragile truce the college had recently fashioned with the surrounding community.

This, if true, counts as a major victory for preservationists and activists citywide.

UPDATE: NYU has released its plans, with diagrams shown on Curbed:

"It is that structure and volume that people passionately feel celebrates the history and heritage of the theater," NYU says in its statement. The internal auditorium will be rebuilt, with some "historical features" and pieces of the existing theater (like the seats) including in the new design.

NYU Thinks Up the Unthinkable

Here's a simple history test even an ignorant dunderhead of a New Yorker could pass. The Provincetown Playhouse in Greenwich Village where Eugene O'Neill, the father of modern American drama, produced many of his first plays—worth preserving or eminently dispensable?

Duh.

Well, NYU isn't as smart of your average dunderhead. It wants to tear down the Macdougal Street landmark (which isn't officially landmarked, of course) and develop the property for its law school. When I first saw this article in the Villager, I checked to see if it was April 1. It seemed like one of those April Fool's Day joke stories. It couldn't be true!

Excuse me while I go berserk for a minute.

WTF! WHAT THE FUCK?! What the everlastin', God-fearin' fuck are they fucking thinking, those monstrous, vulgarian, institutional mother-fucking fuckers. If they touch one brick I'm going to go down to Washington Square and rain a torrent of blows on their greedy, unthinking, unworthy heads!

OK. I'm better now. Still furious, though.

Reads The Villager article:

New York University proposes to demolish the four-story buildings on MacDougal St. where the Provincetown Playhouse first produced the plays of Eugene O’Neill, and redevelop them to include new space for the university’s law school as well as a new theater.

Although not protected by city landmark designation and modified several times over the past nine decades, the row of four buildings and the 170-seat theater have iconic cultural significance.

The redevelopment of 133-139 MacDougal St. will be the first test of the N.Y.U. planning principles adopted in January with the support of the Community Task Force on N.Y.U. Development and Borough President Scott Stringer. The principles were adopted with the hope they would bring a new era of harmony between the university and its Village neighbors.

Oh, yeah. This'll breed harmony for sure. NYU! The village just gave you holy Hell for wanted to shut down a Met supermarket! Do you think this proposal makes for a good follow-up?

Here's the ugliness they're after. Purty.

NYU President John Sexton's e-mail is: john.sexton@nyu.edu. Write. Write. Write. Make his computer crash. Make his life miserable.

NYU sucks. NYU sucks. NYU sucks. NYU sucks. NYU sucks. Repeat ad nauseum.