The main entrance is through an arch on the eastern portion of the ground-floor; the rest of the ground floor is taken up by emergency exits, shielded by marquee.

The Little again hosted Broadway productions starting in 1977, and it was then sold to Martin Markinson and Donald Tick, who renamed the theater for Helen Hayes in 1983.

Across 44th Street are the Row NYC Hotel to the northwest, the Majestic and Broadhurst theaters to the north, and the Shubert Theatre and One Astor Plaza to the northeast.

[5] The Hayes Theater was designed by Ingalls & Hoffman for impresario Winthrop Ames using elements of the neo-Federal,[6][7] colonial,[7] and Georgian Revival styles.

The layout was meant to give theater patrons the feeling that they were Ames's "guests for the nonce, in an old colonial house behind a garden wall, left behind in the march of progress, the front untouched and the interior remodeled by an amateur of the stage".

Within this arch are a set of wooden double doors, which are flanked by Ionic-style columns and by sidelights containing lozenge and oval patterns.

Above this is a stone plaque with inscribed letters reading "The Little Theatre MCMXII", as well as a pair of dancing figures in low relief.

[8][16] The second-story window panes are arranged in an eight-over-twelve format; above them are splayed stone lintels, containing keystones with bead motifs and brackets.

It was painted like the box office and had a large mirror, dressing table, chaise longue, and mahogany side chairs with armure coverings in a rose color.

Also in the basement was a men's smoking room with oak wainscoting, yellowish-brown walls with benches, a cream-colored ceiling, and a red tile floor.

[41] Two months later, Ingalls and Hoffman filed plans with the New York City Department of Buildings for the Little Theatre, a 299-seat theater at 238–244 West 44th Street, to cost $100,000.

[42][43] The 299-seat capacity exempted Ames from New York City Fire Department regulations, wherein theaters with at least 300 seats required emergency-exit alleys on either side.

[50][51] This was followed by a special matinee with Charles Rann Kennedy's The Terrible Meek and Ma Tcheu-Yuen's The Flower of the Palace of Han.

[5][48] That March, The New York Times reported that Ames was planning to increase the capacity to 1,000 seats by adding a balcony, enlarging the auditorium, and replacing the stage.

He removed the wainscoting and wall coverings, since these did not conform to New York City building regulations for larger venues, and added Adam-style decorations in their place.

[80][81] When the theater's expansion was completed in early 1920,[48] Morosco hosted two "experimental dramas": Rachel Barton Butler's Mama's Affair and Eugene O'Neill's Beyond the Horizon.

[105] Ames announced his retirement from producing in October 1929, but he said he would continue to control the Little Theatre, with Golden, Weber, and Comstock operating the venue.

The network, seeking a larger accommodation, ultimately leased the Manhattan (now Ed Sullivan) Theater in August 1936, vacating the Little Theatre by the end of the next month.

[128] During 1936 and 1937, the theater hosted productions such as Promise with Cedric Hardwicke,[130][131] Sun Kissed with Jean Adair and Charles Coburn,[132][133] and Abie's Irish Rose.

[132][134] The Little Theatre's original name was restored when Cornelia Otis Skinner's solo show Edna His Wife opened in December 1937.

[142] The events included "victory garden lectures",[145] a book conference for children,[146] an instrumental concert,[147] and recitals from figures such as basso Emanuel List[148] and dancer Lotte Goslar.

[173] The theater was renamed the Winthrop Ames Theatre that September,[174][175] when Frank D. Gilroy's play The Subject Was Roses transferred there.

[204] The theater's next hit came in June 1982 when Harvey Fierstein's play Torch Song Trilogy opened;[189][205] it ran for three years.

Hayes had outlived her previous namesake theater on 46th Street, which had been demolished to make way for the New York Marriott Marquis hotel.

[260][261] William Gibson's play Golda's Balcony opened the next year, featuring Tovah Feldshuh, and ran for 493 performances.

[276] The same year, the Hayes staged the play Next Fall,[277][278] as well as Colin Quinn's one-man show Long Story Short,[279][280] the latter of which was recorded at the theater as an HBO special.

[283][284] Rock of Ages achieved the box office record for the Helen Hayes Theatre, grossing $744,667 over nine performances for the week ending December 30, 2012.

[285] After Second Stage finally raised enough money to buy the theater, Tick's family and Markinson requested that the sale be delayed until Rock of Ages closed.

[30][302] Second Stage planned to host works by living American playwrights, particularly from female and minority writers, at the Hayes Theater.

[325][326] Larissa FastHorse's The Thanksgiving Play opened at the Hayes in April 2023 for a two-month run,[327][328] followed by Sandy Rustin's The Cottage in July 2023[329][330] and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's Appropriate in November 2023.