Charles Playhouse

The Charles Playhouse is an Off-Broadway theater located at 74 Warrenton St. in Boston, Massachusetts near Beacon Hill. Blue Man Group and Shear Madness currently play there. In 1958 The Charles Playhouse became one of the pioneering regional theaters in America. The company, founded a year earlier in a loft on Charles Street at the foot of Beacon Hill, moved to the theater on Warrenton Street with a revival of O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh. The founding Artistic Director was Michael Murray who led the company until 1968. Managing Director was Frank Sugrue. The acting company included many stars-to-be such as Al Pacino, Olympia Dukakis, Jill Clayburgh, Jane Alexander, Ned Beatty, and John Cazale. The company staged Boston premieres of plays by Brecht, Beckett, Osborne and Ionesco a well as classics by Shakespeare, Shaw, Ibsen, Pirandello and others.

In 1958 The Charles Playhouse became one of the pioneering American regional theaters. The company, founded originally in a loft on Charles Street at the foot of Beacon Hill, moved to the theater on Warrenton Street with a production of O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh. The founding Artistic Director was Michael Murray, who led the company until 1968. Managing Director was Frank Sugrue. The acting company included many stars-to-be, including Al Pacino, Olympia Dukakis, Jill Clayburgh, Jane Alexander, Ned Beatty and John Cazale. The company staged the Boston premieres of plays by Brecht, Beckett, Osborne and Ionesco as well as classics by Shaekspeare, Shaw, Ibsen, Pirandello and others.

The Charles Playhouse was originally designed in 1839 as the Fifth Universalist Church by architect Asher Benjamin. In 1864, it became the second home of Congregation Ohabei Shalom, the first synagogue in Boston, Massachusetts. It was later transformed into a speakeasy called the "The Lido Venice". Charles Playhouse was at 54 Charles Street in Boston, then moved to the current Warrenton Street location.

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