The final curtain has come down on Upright Citizens Brigade’s Sunset Boulevard theater. The comedy troupe says the venue has been sold as the group has “been unable to make mortgage payments during this extended shutdown.”
News about the UCB Theatre comes eight months after the troupe founded by Amy Poehler, Matt Walsh and others closed its New York venue. The group said on social media, however, that it is “still working to maintain Franklin [Avenue] space and look forward to being legally allowed to gather again.” UCB notes that digital classes will continue.
The 30-year-old improv and sketch-comedy troupe is led by co-founders Poehler, Walsh, Matt Besser and Ian Roberts, who said wrote, “We know this theater was a home for so many, and so many people were responsible for helping it grow. We want to thank all of those people and the New York community who were also significantly impacted by recent closures.” See their Instagram post below.
UCB’s theater and training center in Hell’s Kitchen was shuttered in late April, as the coronavirus pandemic was hammering New York. Poehler, Walsh, Besser and Roberts at the time called it “a heart-wrenching but necessary decision.”
Upright Citizens Brigade has launched the careers of dozens of comedy notables including Adam McKay; Saturday Night Live’s Kate McKinnon and Bobby Moynihan; multiple Emmy nominees Ellie Kemper and Jack McBrayer; The Daily Show’s Rob Corddry and Rob Riggle; The League veterans Nick Kroll, Paul Scheer and Jason Mantzoukas; Poehler’s fellow Parks and Recreation alums Aubrey Plaza and Ben Schwartz; and Broad City‘s Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson.