AMNY reports that New York University has announced plans to demolish the 170-seat theatre, which is not landmarked and once featured the early works of Edward Albee, Eugene O'Neill and Edna St. Vincent Millay, among others.

NYU plans to demolish a block of buildings on MacDougal Street, including the famed theatre. A new five-story building that would be utilized by NYU's law school would take its place. AMNY also says the school has proposed adding a theatre to the new complex.

Andrew Berman, president of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, told AMNY, "This is a world famous historic site that is critical to the development of alternative theatre in America. To demolish it is sacrilege."

University spokesman John Beckman told the New York daily, "The overwhelming tone from people in the neighborhood is moderate and constructive; Andrew Berman's comments are the exception, not the rule."

NYU's project will be discussed May 28 during a meeting of Community Board 2's Institutions Committee.