The award-winning Atlantic Theater Company is an Off-Broadway theater founded by William H. Macy and David Mamet. In 2005, the company sought CWB Architects’ expertise in designing a new performance space on Manhattan’s West 16th Street. Intended for use as a second stage for student productions, the Stage 2 building houses additional rehearsal spaces available for rental to outside companies.

Located in a sub sub-basement sixty to seventy feet below street level, the 99-seat theater is an intimate space encased in concrete block that provides full acoustic isolation, preventing outside noise from seeping into the performance space and vice versa. A grid was installed below the 24-foot ceiling to accommodate elaborate lighting systems and the technicians who operate them. An existing loading dock and freight elevator, traces of the building’s Port Authority history, were converted into a lofty lobby and large lift that transports theater-goers down to the performance space below.

This project won a DeWitt Stern Local Hero Award and was featured in Lighting and Sound America and the Real Estate & Construction Review.