The once-thriving disco and rock club nestled in the heart of New York City, Limelight, may soon be transformed into an Off-Broadway theatre.
According to Forbes, director Michael Arden, producer Hunter Arnold, and film distributor Roadside Attractions are working to transform the former nightclub to a theater. The plan is to convert the 21,000-square foot space, which now operates mainly as a fitness center, to include a circular stage with 320 seats over two levels. A third floor will be reserved for performers’ dressing rooms.
Marvel Architects, who previously took-on the renovations for the Lyric Theatre — which currently houses the acclaimed “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” show — will oversee the project.
The Limelight has a storied history since it was first built in 1844. While the building first operated as the Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion, the deconsecrated church was converted to a drug rehab facility in the early ’70s. However, most people remember it as the hot-spot on Sixth Avenue and West 20th Street for techno, goth, and industrial music in the ’90s following its 1983 opening.
New York Magazine columnist Michael Musto called the space “a place where people who were freaks in school could come and reinvent themselves or dress up in their sisters’ clothes or just be what they wanted to be.” However, the nightclub shut down in 2007 following several police raids and drug distributions.
If plans follow-through, Limelight will live-on alongside Studio 54. The former disco nightclub-turned theater sits on West 54th Street.
