Hemp Houses: Know the Ropes

AMERICAN THEATRE: In 1991, I was on staff at New York City’s Theatre for a New Audience when founding artistic director Jeffrey Horowitz and his team produced a revival of Romeo and Juliet at the Victory Theater on West 42nd Street. I remember being in that huge, musty theatre with the company for the first time. The Victory dated back to 1900, yet the young, energetic actors ran around the place like it was their own personal playground, climbing to various levels and remarking on the theatre’s historic details.