Hackney's newest theatre is up for community building award
A scene from 2014’s Turfed at Hackney Downs Studios, now Hackney Showroom. Photograph: Hackney Showroom
Hackney’s newest theatre has been shortlisted to win £50,000 in the Jewson Building Better Communities prize.
Hackney Showroom, which officially opened in March, is appealing for public votes and is one of 63 UK-wide nominees for the award for community buildings projects.
Describing itself as offering “bold, exciting theatre for ordinary people”, the Hackney Showroom is a 4,000 square-foot former print works at Hackney Downs Studios.
The venue’s first official production was last month’s Politrix by The Big House, although works by Paines Plough, LIFT and others have been presented in the same space since 2013.
This large, industrial space has now been renovated, but there’s still work needed to complete the interior.
Nina Lyndon, who set up the Hackney Showroom with business partner Sam Curtis Lindsay, said: “We are committed to smashing down the barriers that make some cultural activity off limits for many. This project offers bold, exciting theatre for ordinary people. Affordable, informal and with doors wide open.”
You can vote for the project here: