The Off Center

This Eastside warehouse was converted into a performance venue in 1998 and since 1999 has been managed by nationally acclaimed theatre collective Rude Mechanicals, which has built it into a multi-arts space dedicated to confounding the boundaries that separate artistic genres and a community center for artists of all disciplines. The 99-seat black-box mainstage is where the ensemble-based company develops all its brave new works for the stage (The Method Gun, Stop Hitting Yourself, Lipstick Traces, et al.), but the Rudes have formed alliances with many other artists locally, nationally, and internationally, and make the Off Center available for their work as well. It’s a prime spot to catch thought-provoking and envelope-pushing new work.