The new home for Theater for a New Audience in downtown Brooklyn is now officially the Polonsky Shakespeare Center, in honor of a $10 million gift from the Polonsky Foundation, the largest the theater has ever received.
The “transformational†gift “will enable us to have a permanent home from which we can contribute to the cultural life of Brooklyn and New York,“ Jeffrey Horowitz, the founding artistic director of the organization, said in a statement announcing the news on Thursday.
Based in London, the Polonsky Foundation supports projects in the arts and humanities, with support going to ventures at Oxford and Cambridge universities and Townsend Harris High School, among others. Dr. Leonard S. Polonsky, chairman of Hansard Global Plc. and his wife, Dr. Georgette Bennett created the foundation.
The theater will launch its new home with “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,†directed by Julie Taymor. Previews begin Oct. 19 for a November 2 opening. Julie Taymor will direct the production, which has original music by Elliot Goldenthal.
The 27,500-squre-foot theater is the first major house for classical work built in New York since Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater opened in 1965, according to theater and city officials. Mr. Horowitz founded Theater for a New Audience in 1979 to presents the work of Shakespeare and other classic and contemporary playwrights. The Polonsky Center is its first permanent home.
The theater has raised $65.3 million as part of its $69.1 million capital campaign. The campaign includes money to support the construction of its Hugh Hardy-designed building, as well as programs and operations.
