Phoenix Theatre (New York City)

Houghton and Hambleton wanted a theatre away from Times Square, that would host a permanent company, abjure the star system (players would be listed alphabetically), produce four or five plays a season for limited engagements (contributors would be asked to sponsor an entire season rather than individual productions), and with ticket prices much lower than on Broadway.

In the following seasons the theater mounted many more productions featuring notable figures of the theatre, and garnered various awards.

Associated persons included British actors Pamela Brown, Michael and Rachel Redgrave, Peggy Ashcroft; American stars Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Millie Natwick, Mildred Dunnock, Robert Ryan, Montgomery Clift, and Kaye Ballard; and directors and producers Elia Kazan, John Houseman, Robert Whitehead, and Alfred de Liagre; and writers and designers Sidney Howard, Robert Sherwood, John Latouche, Jerome Moross, Donald Oenslager, and Jean Eckart;[2]: 9  and musicians Michael Danzi and John Serry.

[4] Productions mounted over the span of the Phoenix Theatre's existence include The Doctor's Dilemma (George Bernard Shaw), The Master Builder (Henrik Ibsen), Story of a Soldier (music drama, Igor Stravinsky), Six Characters in Search of an Author (Luigi Pirandello), The Mother of Us All (opera, Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein), Measure for Measure (William Shakespeare), Livin' the Life (musical based on Mark Twain's Mississippi River tales), The Good Woman of Szechuan (Bertolt Brecht), The Taming of the Shrew (William Shakespeare), and Anna Christie (Eugene O'Neill).

Citing insuperable financial challenges, the Phoenix announced on December 13, 1982, that it was ceasing operations.