Mission & Programs
Founded in 1999, The New York Theatre Experience, Inc. (NYTE), is a
nonprofit corporation that uses new and traditional media to provide
tangible support and advocacy for the theatre community in New York
City. Through our three programs—nytheatre.com, NYTE
Small Press, and Community Outreach—we highlight, nurture, promote, and
advance the work of thousands of theatre practitioners making
groundbreaking and foundational art in New York City and around the US,
and inform and grow theatre audiences.
NYTE operates a free web-based resource that serves millions of
readers every year by providing them with independent, accurate,
comprehensive, and easily navigated information about the theatre scene
in the New York City metro area.
nytheatre.com provides listings, reviews, and other useful tools for
tourists, first-time theatre-goers, and experienced members of the theatre community. It generated more than 13 million hits
in the 2009-10 season: people use it to learn what's playing in theatres in New York City, how to get to those theatres, and how to buy tickets; then they click on ticketing links and buy tickets (an estimated 1 million dollars' worth in 2010) and attend performances—and then they return to nytheatre.com to use our venue listings, read interviews with artists, or check out specific reviews.
nytheatre.com differs from other theatre sites by focusing on the nonprofit theatre community. More than 90% of shows in New York are produced by nonprofits; most of these are small companies struggling for limited funding and audiences. Because their marketing budgets are modest (or even nonexistent), it's hard for these companies to get noticed by media and audiences. And notice is what they need and deserve: they are the laboratory and experimental wing of American theatre, the incubator for new artists, new forms, new styles, new ideas.
Our vision is to level the playing field within the New York theatre community—to make sure that underfunded emerging nonprofit companies are given ample, enthusiastic coverage to help them reach the public and build the audience they need to survive.
nytheatrecast, the voice
of nytheatre.com, is a podcast series dedicated to the indie theater
scene that was the first regularly scheduled original-content podcast
about theatre in New York. As of December 2010, NYTE has produced 357
episodes of the nytheatrecast.
Indie Theater Companion,
hosted on nytheatre.com, is a dynamic resource written by theater
artists about the world of indie theater. It includes bios and profiles
of artists, theatre companies, and essays about theater genres, topics,
and other items of interest to readers.
NYTE Small Press publishes the Plays and Playwrights anthology
series, an annual collection of new works from the indie theater community, written by never-before
published playwrights. The
objective of our publication program is to bring attention to worthy new
works in American drama
and their authors. Among the playwrights who received first publication
in the Plays and
Playwrights series are: Kirk Wood Bromley, C.J. Hopkins, Garth
Wingfield, Julia Lee Barclay, Trav S.D., Matthew Freeman, Chiori Miyagawa,
Ken Urban, Marc Spitz, Peter S. Petralia,
Joe Godfrey, Andrea Lepcio,
Kelly McAllister, John Jahnke, Qui Nguyen,
Kevin Augustine, Alec Duffy, Josh Fox, Michael Lew, Kevin Doyle, Saviana
Stanescu, Michael Baron, Taylor Mac, James Comtois, Crystal Skillman, Daniel Talbott,
Mac Rogers, Randy Sharp and Axis Company, Lenora Champagne, Rick
Burkhardt, Ellen Maddow, and Brian Parks.
Since the first volume, in 2000, NYTE Small Press has published 147
plays. NYTE Small Press also publishes the
Plays and Playwrights Blog
featuring updates of the latest news about our alumni playwrights, and
other news of interest to playwrights.
In 2010 NYTE Small Press entered the world of e-books with the
publication of Plays and Playwrights for the New Millennium - the
e-book. This is available on amazon's kindle store, Barnes and
Noble's nook store, and Borders ebooks.
Community Outreach
NYTE strives to bring together diverse members of the indie theater
sector—actors, playwrights, producers, directors, designers, and
audience—through our Community of Contributors volunteer program and a
variety of forums and public events to foster collaboration, fellowship,
and mutual understanding among these hard-working artists who otherwise
might never have an opportunity to meet and communicate with one
another. NYTE also provides many ad hoc services to the greater New York
community, such as ongoing distribution of the New York State Council on
the Arts Theatre Program's Report on the Status of Women. NYTE partners
with organizations such as 50/50 in 2020 and the New York International
Fringe Festival to further achieve mutual goals. NYTE also publishes
the nytheatre blog, providing
a forum for discussion of topics of interest to theatre goers and
theatre artists.