A performance space with a lot of history resurrected at 1365 Kennedy Street NW

Image from backalleytheater.tumblr.com/

You may know the basement of 1365 Kennedy Street NW as the site of the two most recent DC Grey Markets, but the residents of the Madison Terrace Cooperative have more plans for creative uses of their space. It's my pleasure to introduce you to Back Alley Theater and its new Tumblr, which contains a list of planned events at the space (mark February 16 on your calendars for an evening of bass performances with Thomas Helton, Brit Powell, and Luke Stewart).

The new blog also contains a really interesting history of the space. Here's a short excerpt:

The Back Alley Theater was born in 1967 in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Naomi Eftis started the theater in the garage in the alley behind her house at 1929 Lamont St., NW. She started it because she wanted to give kids in the neighborhood the experience of theater.

In 1968, the theater moved into St. Stephen’s Church, at 16th and Newton Streets, NW. They then moved briefly into the Church of the Reformation on East Capitol Street on Capitol Hill, before settling in 1969 into permanent quarters in the basement of an apartment building at 1365 Kennedy Street, NW.

In 1981, the tenants who lived in the apartment building that housed the Back Alley Theater joined forces to collectively purchase their building from their landlord, forming the Madison Terrace Cooperative. Thirty years later, in 2011, Madison Terrace Cooperative members began to resurrect the Back Alley Theater for musical performances and community events.

Very exciting to see a new(ish) DIY space dedicated to community performances and events spring up in the neighborhood.