Lincoln Center Theater

Lincoln Center Theater is a major nonprofit institution that operates out of three distinct performance spaces on the campus. The primary venue is the Vivian Beaumont Theater, which opened in 1965 and remains the only Broadway-style theater situated within the Lincoln Center complex. Designed by the architect Eero Saarinen, the Beaumont is famous for its thrust stage, a configuration that projects the acting area out into the audience to create an exceptionally intimate atmosphere. This theater was built as part of an ambitious urban renewal project in the 1950s and 1960s that fundamentally reshaped the Upper West Side. The creation of the center required the clearance of the neighborhood formerly known as San Juan Hill, a process that displaced thousands of residents and hundreds of businesses to make room for these cultural institutions. Today, the theater serves as an autonomous organization that produces a mix of classic revivals and contemporary premieres, operating alongside the smaller Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater and the Claire Tow Theater to stage a diverse range of work.