Profile

Despite the Skirball Center’s location in the bowels of the NYU student center, this is no black-box space for undergrad one-acts. In fact, each season student performances are limited to a few shows, like that 2006 production of Hair with an entirely hairless cast. Most of the time, it’s international professionals—from the worlds of dance, music, and theater—taking the stage instead. Open since the fall of 2003, the center is still building its reputation, but the 865 red-velvet seats, light-wood-and-metallic paneling, and high ceilings lend seemingly random productions like Hamlet in Spanish or the New York Gypsy Festival a bit of airy elegance. The theater has also hosted major non-arts events, such as a live broadcast of The Apprentice’s third-season finale. — Kaitlin Jessing-Butz