History

The New York Shakespeare Exchange began as a work/life balance initiative at American Express to give creative employees an opportunity to use their talents, and provide unexpected workplace entertainment open to all. Its first public performance, in January 2009 was a staged reading of The Comedy of Errors presented in two lunch-time installments and two "Happy Hour" post-work performances.The success of the shows with these somewhat atypical audiences served as the genesis of the company’s current mission to explore new and uniquely contemporary ways of bringing Shakespeare into people’s lives.

The company formally debuted to the NYC theater community in May of 2010 with its production of Kevin Brewer’s One Man (Two Man (not quite)) Hamlet, which received development space grants from both 3LD Art & Technology Center and HEREarts. Since that time NYSX has increased its programming to include numerous readings; a recurring Shakespearean Pub Crawl called ShakesBEER; and, an annual mainstage production, most recently the hugely successful The Life and Death of King John, hailed by Adam Feldman of TimeOutNY as “one of the finest Off-Off Broadway Shakespeare productions I have ever seen.”

In January 2011 NYSX became a federally-recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.