Coronavirus closes celebrated Queens theater for good
/
The Secret Theatre in November 2019. Eagle file photo by Victoria Merlino
By Victoria Merlino
The Secret Theatre, a beloved decade-old Long Island City performance venue, will permanently shut its doors due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, its founder announced Wednesday.
In a video posted to The Secret Theatre’s Facebook page, founder Richard Mazda addressed the theater’s fans and patrons directly, saying that it was a “shock” to announce the closure.
“The plain truth is that the entire theater business is in such deep trouble now, that I expect that we will be only one of many small theaters that will close,” Mazda said.
Mazda said he did not think the theater sector will reopen for business for at least a year, he told the Eagle in an interview Thursday.
“I don't know what the future holds.” he said. “I don’t want to promise a phoenix-like return in a few months.”
The Secret Theatre presented a wide range of plays, musicals and other types of performances. It was especially well known in the borough for its children’s offerings, with two performances among the longest-running children’s shows in the Queens.
“I put it in Queens because Queens needed a theater,” Mazda said.
The Secret Theatre will continue offering online children’s theater classes, which he said were successful. He and his staff are also looking into a safe way to put on their popular summer camps for children. The Secret Theatre hopes to grow the academy, and to one day have a physical space again.
He asked anyone with concerns about the theater to contact him directly through the email found on his website, as he is being inundated with calls.
Mazda spoke about the challenges he faced running The Secret Theatre with the Eagle late last year, following a city-commissioned study on the small theater industry’s economic impact in New York City.
The Secret Theatre was classified as an off-off-Broadway theater, or a theater with a capacity of 99 seats or less. The economics of being an off-off-Broadway theater is difficult, because low ticket prices and a low seating capacity can mean thin margins, Mazda had said.
The Secret Theatre also operated as a for-profit outfit instead of a non-profit, one of the handful of small theaters to do so across the city. The study found that 96 percent of small theaters operated as non-profits. Mazda said he was looking to switch to a non-profit model to ensure the theater’s survival.
“I feel really beaten up by 10 years of walking a financial tightrope,” Mazda said at the time.
More than 100 cultural institutions in the city joined together in mid-April to ask federal officials for a stimulus package for museums, theaters, zoos and other cultural centers that have been decimated by COVID-19.
On Thursday, Mazda said that he was angry with how federal, state and city lawmakers have handled the pandemic, and said he has not received any grants or small business loans from the Paycheck Protection Program.
He also said he has not received assistance from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs or the City Council.
“This is a theater town,” he said. “What are they doing for us? Nothing.”
