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“The cost of operating two venues in Manhattan has become too high, and after extensive consultation, the UCB4 has decided an exit is necessary,” Michael Hartney, artistic director for the New York theaters, said in an email to the UCB community. UCB4 refers to the theater’s founders: Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh and Matt Besser, who turned a barely available art form in New York City into an institution, and then some.
Hartney added, “It is sad to lose a venue, especially when it affects employees we care about.”
Pat Baer, longtime technical director for UCB, said in a post on Twitter that he was losing his job.
Baer wrote: “After Feb 9th, I will no longer be a UCB employee. April would have been 15 years. I’m heartbroken and a bit numb. I will accept condolences, high fives, and job offers.”
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As an alternative, UCB will be partnering with SubCulture, a 130-seat Bleecker Street venue where UCB will host shows Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights — for three evenings of programming as opposed to the full seven at the East Village UCB, where the last show will be Feb. 9. Shows at SubCulture, a venue that opened five years ago, will begin Feb. 15.
In a separate statement, the founders of UCB said, “Due to the long-term cost of rent, property taxes, and other expenses associated with operating a second venue in New York City, UCB has created this new experience at SubCulture to reduce the financial impact.”
UCB East, or as it is affectionately known among performers — The Beast — opened in 2011, six years after UCB had opened a location in Los Angeles.
By this time, long-form improv had attracted a significant following in New York. UCB East gained a reputation for giving up-and-coming comedians a space to experiment, but irked some performers by not paying them, even though classes at the theater are an expensive proposition.
When UCB moved from its Chelsea location to Hell’s Kitchen in 2017, the theater, in addition to high rents, faced a crowded marketplace from other improv schools like the Magnet Theater and the People’s Improv Theater.
A spokeswoman for UCB said that location was in no danger of closing and that the East Village theater decision was made strictly because of property-tax issues related to that venue.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.