Surf Reality
| Surf Reality's House of Urban Savages | |
| Address |
172 Allen Street, Lower East Side New York City USA |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°43′17″N 73°59′20″W / 40.7214°N 73.9890°W |
| Owner | Robert Prichard |
| Type | Performance Art Theater |
| Capacity | 65 |
| Current use | yoga studio |
| Opened | 1993 |
| Closed | 2003 |
| Website | |
| www.surfreality.com | |
Surf Reality's House of Urban Savages, also known as Surf Reality, was a 65-seat performance venue on Manhattan's Lower East Side from 1993-2003. A laboratory for experimental performance of all kinds, Surf Reality was known for comedy, performance art, classic burlesque, modern music, vaudeville and experimental theater.
Surf Reality began as a video production company that produced a series called The Movie of the Month Club, including such works as Dick and Jane Drop Acid and Die and Manic A-Go-Go.
The theater also served as the home for Faceboyz Open Mic. Other acts that passed through Surf include The Upright Citizens Brigade, Todd Barry, Dave Chappelle, Maggie Estep, and Jonathan Ames. Surf Reality was noted as a venue for "alternative comedy, along with performance art and theater pieces" where "visitors have to be buzzed in through its scrap-metal door and climb up to a loftlike second-floor space" by The New York Times. [1]
References
- ↑ Pareles, Jon (September 9, 1997), "The New Bohemia: It's East of SoHo And Still Unspoiled", The New York Times, The New York Times Company, retrieved 2008-08-11
External references
- Surf Reality website
- 1996 NY Times article about Surf Reality and Alternative Comedy
- 2003 Village Voice article about the closing of Surf Reality
- Tom Tenney: Surf Reality resident producer and sound artist for 64 Paintings/64 Plays