page_title: August Wilson Theatre
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: August Wilson Theatre / History
caption_attribution_description: Virginia Theatre (now the August Wilson Theatre) Manhattan, New York City
context_page_description: The August Wilson Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 245 West 52nd Street in midtown Manhattan. The theatre, named after Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright August Wilson, is owned and operated by Jordan Roth of Jujamcyn Theaters. The theatre has 1,222 seats, and its longest-running show was Jersey Boys. Since April of 2018, the Tony Award-nominated musical, Mean Girls has been running at the August Wilson.
context_section_description: Designed by architects C. Howard Crane and Kenneth Franzheim and constructed by the Theatre Guild, it opened as the Guild Theatre in 1925 with a revival of George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra. Theresa Helburn of the Theatre Guild presided over the groundbreaking ceremony.
  In 1943, the building was leased to WOR-Mutual Radio as a studio. The American National Theater and Academy purchased it in 1950 and renamed it the ANTA Theatre. In 1981, the theatre was purchased by Jujamcyn Theaters and named the Virginia Theatre for owner and Jujamcyn Board member Virginia McKnight Binger.
  After her husband, James H. Binger's death in 2004, producer and president of Jujamcyn Rocco Landesman announced that he planned to buy Jujamcyn. He told The New York Times he had a long-standing understanding with Binger that he would buy the corporation's five playhouses. The theatres had an estimated net asset value of $30 million.
  On October 16, 2005, fourteen days after American playwright August Wilson's death, the theatre was renamed in his honor.  That same year, Jordan Roth joined Jujamcyn Theaters.
  In 2009, Landesman was tapped by the Obama administration to head the National Endowment for the Arts Foundation. Landesman sold half his interest to the successful 33-year-old theater producer, Jordan Roth. Roth assumed full control of operations as Landesman departed for the NEA and still owns and operates the company today.
  The theatre has been closed as of March 12, 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. It does not plan on opening until January 3, 2021.
caption: Virginia Theatre, 2002
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