Meet the York Theatre Company's Latest Tenant: 162 Brand-New Seats

When audience members arrive at the York Theatre Company to see the new musical A Taste of Things to Come, astute observers (and longtime subscribers) will notice something distinctly different. For the first time since the 1990s, the York, under the artistic direction of James Morgan, has updated the seats in its auditorium.

As Morgan points out, the renovations are half a decade in the making and were born out of legendary New York necessity after the venue's original certificate of occupancy, guarded by both the City of New York and the York's landlord, the Theatre at St. Peter's Church, was lost to time.

"The risers that were under the old seats were made of wood," says Morgan. "We think they were put in by the Mirror Rep in the 1980s, some time before we moved here in 1992." That original certificate of occupancy "grandfathered those risers in as being OK to use." Without it, there was no telling what the city could do (and what would become of the theater) if the situation was discovered to be out of code.

Fortunately, the York became the recipient of a $115,000 New York City grant that they had originally earmarked for "lighting and sound equipment, infrared hearing devices, things like that," Morgan notes. But they settled on audience comfort and building code instead. "We decided it would be smarter to get new seats."

In typical fashion when it comes to a large-scale construction project, there were various delays in trying to find out what current occupancy codes would allow. Over five years, the theater worked with two different sets of architects and a seating manufacture. "It was quite the learning experience," says Morgan.

The old seats were removed at the end of September over the course of a week. The new seats were added in shortly thereafter. There are fewer of them now, too. Morgan explains: "The architect said, 'Someone from the city had said if you want the same number of seats, you have to remove the first three feet of the stage.' That was not happening. That is the most important real estate we have. That's just absurd that anyone would even think that's acceptable. So we have twelve or fifteen fewer seats."

Ultimately, things worked out. A "wonderful, supportive campaign to get names and plaques on seats" has sold all but a dozen chairs out of 162 at this point. "It actually made us some money, which is not a bad thing at all," especially for a smaller company like the York. "We're grateful to the city and all the people who helped make it happen."

As for the old chairs, what goes around comes around. They were originally donated to the York from the old John Houseman Theater on 42nd Street when it was being torn down. And now? "Now," Morgan says with a smile, "they're at Classic Stage Company." In theater, everything old is new again. Except for certificates of occupancy.