On Nov. 12, Drama Book Shop co-owners Lin-Manuel Miranda and Thomas Kail met the press to announce the opening of the new Gilbert Parker Studio, located on the basement level of the bookstore. The new venue, configured and decorated as a black-box space, will be available for artists to book as writing or rehearsal space. It can also be used for readings, accommodating up to 50 audience members. In addition, the Drama Book Shop will host its own in-house events like book signings, podcast recordings and more in the studio.
Founded by the Drama League in 1917 and established as an independent bookstore in 1923, the Drama Book Shop carries a collection of theatrical literature — published plays, theater history books, critical analyses of the art form, biographies of the industry’s icons and more. In the shop’s 109-year history, it has occupied various locations — including its 40th Street locale from 2001 to 2019 under the co-ownership of Arthur and Rozanne Seelan and Allen Hubby. That location also included the 60-seat Arthur Seelan Theatre in its basement. After rent hikes threatened to close the Drama Book Shop, Miranda and Kail, along with producer Jeffrey Seller and producer-theater owner James L. Nederlander, took over the institution in 2019 and reopened the brick-and-mortar store in 2020 at a new location on 39th Street.
At the previous location, Back House Productions (founded by Kail, John Buffalo Mailer, Neil Stewart and Anthony Veneziale) became the resident theater company. Later, Kail and Miranda would develop the Tony Award-winning “In The Heights” in that same space. Now, the new 39th Street location has a lower-level theater of its own.
“Tommy and I have spent a lot of time in both the 40th Street basement and in this basement,” Miranda told the gathered press. “We had our first auditions for ‘In the Heights’ down [there]. … In this new space, since we reopened the bookshop one block south, I basically wrote all of ‘Warriors’ down here with Eisa Davis. It didn’t look this nice, and I’m kind of evicted, so it’s bittersweet for me.”
