A Brief History

Polaris North

A Membership Co-operative of Actors, Directors, and Playwrights.

A Brief History

  The organization now known as Polaris North, Inc., began its existence in 1976 in a basement space at 455 Hudson Street in New York City. A dozen people shared the $50 per month rent and formed Polaris Repertory, a cooperative of actors and playwrights, allowing them to use the space in any way they saw fit to enhance their professional career. Just as today the space was used for rehearsals, readings and performances and members were responsible for cleaning, repairs and improvements.

    Over time the group added members and started scheduling regular workshops for playwrights and working on monologues. In 1984 the group put together audition workshops in front of agents and casting directors.

     In 1992 the activities had outgrown the basement. Some members split from the original organization and moved uptown to our current location at 245 West 29th Street, calling themselves Polaris North. With the larger space membership continued to grow and activities expanded.

    Thanks to the hard work of the founding members of the organization and all those who have joined the mission since, this unique organization continues to thrive and provide an artistic home to some of the most talented theater artists in New York.

    We hope you will enjoy exploring this web site and visiting our studio to learn more about this amazing group. We also now have a Twitter account where you can be kept up to date about the many opportunities that Polaris North offers. Just follow us at @polarisnorthnyc.

If you have any queries about the site feel free to reach out to our webmaster and member Walter Thinnes, who founded and has maintained the website since 2010.