top of page

ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY AMERICAN AIRLINES CELEBRATE 100 YEARS OF THE AMERICAN AIRLINES THEATRE ON

Built in 1918 as the Selwyn Theatre on West 42nd Street

Restored and Expanded by Roundabout Theatre Company in 2000

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director/CEO) and American Airlines (Jim Carter, Vice President – Eastern Division Sales for American) are thrilled to celebrate 100 years of the American Airlines Theatre on Broadway, which opened on October 2, 1918 as the Selwyn Theatre on West 42nd Street, with Information Please by Jane Cowl and Jane Murfin.

Through an unprecedented partnership, Roundabout and American Airlines engaged in a $24.5 million expansion and restoration of the Selwyn in 1998, returning the theater to its original neo-renaissance style as part of the 42nd Street Development Project, thanks to generous support from the City of New York. The American Airlines Theatre opened on July 27, 2000, with a revival of Kaufman and Hart’s The Man Who Came to Dinner, starring Nathan Lane.

“We are so grateful for the partnership and extraordinary support of American Airlines in the restoration of the Selwyn Theatre, and for serving the last 18 years as Roundabout’s official airline,” said Roundabout Artistic Director/CEO Todd Haimes. “American Airlines recognizes the incredible impact of theater on tourism and on New York City’s economic and cultural life. Thanks to their exceptional generosity, we are able to produce new works and enduring classics for audiences year-round at our permanent home on Broadway.”

“American Airlines proudly supports great institutions that make an impact in the communities we serve, like Roundabout Theatre Company,” said Jim Carter, Vice President – Eastern Division Sales for American. “American is committed to the creative culture that makes New York so unique and we are honored to continue our partnership for years to come.”

The American Airlines Theatre now serves as the flagship home of Roundabout on Broadway, with such landmark productions as Travesties (2018), The Price (2017), Long Day’s Journey Into Night (2016), On the 20th Century (2015), Violet (2014), The Importance of Being Earnest (2011), The 39 Steps (2008), The Pajama Game (2006), Twelve Angry Men (2004), Big River (2003), A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (2003) and The Boys from Syracuse (2002), winning nine Tony Awards for productions there since 2000.

The critically acclaimed world-premiere production of the Roundabout-commissioned play Bernhardt/Hamlet by Theresa Rebeck, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel, and starring Janet McTeer, Dylan Baker and Jason Butler Harner, is now playing at the American Airlines Theatre through November 11, 2018, followed by Sam Shepard’s True West, starring Ethan Hawke and Paul Dano starting December 27, 2018.

Roundabout Theatre Company celebrates the power of theatre by spotlighting classics from the past, cultivating new works of the present, and educating minds for the future. A not-for-profit company, Roundabout fulfills that mission by producing familiar and lesser-known plays and musicals; discovering and supporting talented playwrights; reducing the barriers that can inhibit theatergoing; collaborating with a diverse team of artists; building educational experiences; and archiving over five decades of production history.

Roundabout Theatre Company presents a variety of plays, musicals and new works on its five stages: Broadway’s American Airlines Theatre, Studio 54 and Stephen Sondheim Theatre, and Off-Broadway’s Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, which houses the Laura Pels Theatre and Black Box Theatre.

American Airlines is the official airline of Roundabout Theatre Company. Roundabout productions are supported, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Roundabout kicks off its 2018-19 Broadway season with Bernhardt/Hamlet, a new play by Theresa Rebeck, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel, starring Janet McTeer, Dylan Baker & Jason Butler Harner; True West by Sam Shepard, directed by James Macdonald, starring Ethan Hawke and Paul Dano; Kiss Me, Kate, directed by Scott Ellis, starring Kelli O’Hara and Will Chase and Arthur Miller’s All My Sons starring Annette Bening and Tracy Letts, directed by Gregory Mosher.

Off-Broadway in 2018-2019, Roundabout’s season includes Apologia by Alexi Kaye Campbell, directed by Daniel Aukin, with Stockard Channing; Merrily We Roll Along by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth, directed by Noah Brody in a Fiasco Theater production; Toni Stone by Lydia R. Diamond, directed by Pam MacKinnon, with Uzo Aduba; and Usual Girls by Ming Peiffer, directed by Tyne Rafaeli and Something Clean by Selina Fillinger, directed by Margot Bordelon at Roundabout Underground.

Follow Roundabout Theatre Company on Twitter, Instagram and on Facebook.

About American Airlines Group

American Airlines and American Eagle offer an average of nearly 6,700 flights per day to nearly 350 destinations in more than 50 countries. American has hubs in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Washington, D.C. American is a founding member of the oneworld® alliance, whose members serve more than 1,000 destinations with about 14,250 daily flights to over 150 countries. Shares of American Airlines Group Inc. trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol AAL. In 2015, its stock joined the S&P 500 index. Connect with American on Twitter @AmericanAir and at Facebook.com/AmericanAirlines.

# # #

Recent Posts