Forget Broadway. Those looking for a truly transporting theater experience are heading to the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
An 870-square-foot, 37-seat jewel box theater hidden in the notoriously gritty transit hub — between a Dunkin’ Donuts and McAnn’s Pub — has become a hot ticket, selling out shows and turning into a raucous scene.
“There is such a high foot traffic that it has great potential for theatrics,” said Anita Durst, Co-Founder and Artist Director of ChaShaMa, the nonprofit that transformed the vacant Port Authority space — formerly a Mrs. Fields cookie shop — into a performance venue.
“It’s kind of a perfect place for New Yorkers to experience all this art and be surprised by it,” she added.
ChaShaMa, which works to turn unused spots throughout the city into creative spaces, took over the Port Authority theater three years ago and brought in various artists, from beatboxers to street performers.
The venue has really taken off since ChaShaMa welcomed the Love Show, a theater group previously based in Bushwick, into the theater last year.
In recent months, the Love Show has staged “The Bride: A Kill Bill Ballet,” a dance piece paying homage to the Quentin Tarantino film, and various free Christmas performances at the bustling bus terminal, which has some 280,000 people walk through it each day.
The group’s next show, “GI’Amour: A Tantalizing Cabaret Experience” opens Friday and runs through April 27. Only a few tickets are still available.
“We sold out all of March so we added April dates,” said Angela Harriell, the Love Show’s director and choreographer.
The show starts at 8 p.m. and runs 90 minutes, but the good times continue after curtain call.
“We have this dance party after every show. It kind of becomes this discotheque with no one wanting to leave,” said one of the performers, 38-year-old Judah Frank.
Leave they must. Port Authority rules require that everyone is out by 10 p.m., when some of the exits lock.
The new show makes use of its unique venue before audience members even take their seats.
After buying tickets, theatergoers receive treasure-hunt like instructions directing them to the theater. They must locate certain wings and staircases in the Port Authority to find the nondescript, industrial door that leads into the theater.
Helpfully, a dancer in full costume is usually stationed by the door to welcome guests.
Still, once inside it’s easy to second guess if you are in the right space. The entrance to the theater is a storage room stocked with brooms, mops, paint cans, rolls of tape and even a sewing machine.
The venue doesn’t just make for a unique atmosphere. It also inspires the plot.
In the world of the play, it’s the final night at Mrs. Field’s Patisserie before it shutters, Harriell explained. She hesitates to reveal anything more.
“I don’t want to give too much away but the show is sexy and fun and there are these crazy costumes, but then the show also moves into this emotional place, and people end up crying,”she said.
“There is a site specific ending that is absolutely shocking,” Frank added. “I can’t tell you what it is. Nobody gives away any secrets here.”
Artistic visions aside, Frank noted that the Port Authority has one big practical benefit: An easy commute for cast and crew.
“You have the blue line, the red line, the yellow line,’” said the Inwood resident. “It’s like, ‘Come on, how great is this?’”
Tickets are $49.87 (with two refreshments included) at EventBrite.com.
