SoHo Playhouse

From the outside, the SoHo Playhouse looks like what it once was: a charming, federalist rowhouse. In its long and storied past (it converted to theaterhood in the ’20s), the venue has had many masters, including Edward Albee, who produced a number of exciting premieres here during the '60s. Now the 199-seat proscenium seems incredibly tiny—when the enormously successful 2009 production of Emperor Jones played here, it seemed like the actors might get snagged on the lights. Still, the Playhouse feels like a slice of old New York, granting a certain gravitas to the many rental productions that cycle through its doors.