Roy Arias Studios & Theatres

My night has turned into shit… I can’t believe this…
Wow…it took me like 35 mins just to find this place… i walked pass this a few times but didn’t really believe that this was an actually theater… until i walked inside and just asked… the guy in the ticket booth and he said «your at the right place»!
Iv never seen such a weird/​outdated theater before… meh…

Horrible experience. Got my reserved room 45 minutes later because they first had to ‘clean it up ’ (on my watch, did not refunded !). Needless to say the whole place is still absolutely gross and staff rude and unorganized ! There are other studios in NYC !!!

Management sucks! Very rude. The owner of the studio do not know how to speak to people. Very cheap attitude. Will never do business again. The clerks will tell you something and once you get there it will be another story.

Definitely run down. While the location is great, being close to Times Square and Broadway, the building itself has seen better days.
The entrance is easy to miss, and can be confusing if you do not know where you are going. Once inside, only one of the elevators was working, and the security guard had to direct us to which floor to go to.
Once upstairs by the theater, it is really quite small. The woman at the concessions, walked a few steps and became the woman selling tickets at the door.
The theater itself is small as well, but interesting. There are bookshelves filled with book throughout the whole room, and small tables throughout. A small bar is located in the bookshelves is located in the back, which adds to the charm. The stage is located on the same level as the bar and a few tables, with more bar type seating elevated around the perimeter of the stage area. The benefit of the small space is obviously that there are not bad seats in this house, and you will be able to hear the actors.
If a good show takes place here, then don’t let the building deter you, however, I would not seek this space out without a good reason.

Attended a show there and had an awful experience. Don’t have someone spend their hard earned money doing a show there, when you cannot accommodate the people that purchased tickets. There were 3 wait staff people on and they could not serve 50 people. Two drink minimum, which is fine, but to bring both my drinks at the end of the show, which me and friends couldn’t finish and then 5 minutes after that my tab and then rush everyone out for the next show, really! Maybe they should stick to being a rehearsal studio.

Came here to see Panic at the Riverside Motel. The play was hilarious. The room was a good size, holds abt 50 seats. The sound was fine as was the view. Overall a great experience.

Extremely unorganized. My team showed up for a practice and our room was locked. There was no one around that worked there to open the room, so we had to call someone. Finally someone showed up with a key.
We had already lost time and our money waiting for our room. Then, 30 minutes into our rehearsal we were interrupted by someone that worked there coming in to tell us we had a phone call? It was someone call to book a space. Weird.
Then, we were interrupted again by a man saying we didn’t have the room, though we had a receipt saying we did. Turns out, they over booked the room! And the man working there was rude to us. He came in screaming and claiming to call the police if we didn’t leave. We showed him our receipt and he said it was for the next day. It had our date on the receipt not the next day, so I don’t know where he was getting this. Also why would we book a room for any other day then we needed? We had physical proof that we had the room, but he refused to work with us and started to call the police.
Let it be known that we had booked this room for 2 hours and had only gotten through 15 minutes of rehearsal before this whole fiasco started. Out of the 2 hours we booked, we only truly got 30 minutes. I feel we deserve some sort of refund. All the groups caught in this mess deserve a refund. And, turns out there was an extra room the entire time that they could have easily just let us use and the other group could have had our room.
Completely disgusting customer service and not to mention the rooms were disgusting as well. Prices were outrageous for such a horrendous place. If you want your money taken away from you and then get the cops called on you, this is the best place for you. But if you want to get treated like a customer with decency and respect, run. Run away as fast as you can.
Try any other rehearsal space like Champions, Ripley-​Grier, Shetler, Pearl, Cap21, or Simple Studios.

Filthy, unorganized venue. The bar was laughable. Bathrooms not clean. Needless to say I will never be returning.

Filthy, disorganized, unreliable space reservations, and unreliable A/​C. Book elsewhere, if you can.

Classic New York scenario. You befriend the people you bump into on a regular basis– your neighbor, your bartender, the mailman, the people who own the bodega, etc. In this case, it’s your server at Outback Steakhouse. He’s an actor on the side. He tells you about a play he’s in. It’s a small production called An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein. You remember this and on a whim you decide to support him /​surprise him by showing up and watching it. Turns out, he was not in the play. No name on the program either. He wasn’t even behind the scenes. Womp womp.
The play was on the fifth floor of the Roy Arias Theatre. The theatre is in a very convenient location right off of the heart of Broadway and 42^nd on 43^rd. There is no sign in process for this building, just take the elevator straight up. The floor was crowded with people. Turns out this theatre shuffles out plays like a factory. Each hour is a different play from a different troupe. I would have never known this theatre existed if not for watching something a friend was in or word of mouth. Tickets were sold in advance through Goldstar and nowhere else.
Roy Arias Theatres are true off off Broadway. There was no air conditioner at the time. It was stinkin’ hot. Not body odor hot but I did end up making my program into a paper fan just to get some air. They made an announcement that an engineer was on his way to fix the A/​C and that if we saw him walk in during the play to just ignore him. He’d be working on it while the play was going on. Warm water bottles, clearly from Duane Reade, were being sold for a dollar. Seating was general admission. I’d say the Roy Arias Theatre was pretty bare bones. The quality of the productions, however, were top notch. I was so entertained and impressed by the acting I’d go back to see another.

I went to see an equity showcase here. The bathrooms were absolutely disgusting, there was even hair on the counter of the sinks, barely enough soap to wash my hands, no paper towels and a pile of refuse under the empty paper towel dispenser. My husband is not tall but had his knees right up against the back of the seat in front of him and was very uncomfortable.
To top it off we watched the owner, who was performing in the show, throw a temper tantrum in front of us and other patrons, screaming at an actor to leave the building while holding the elevator refusing to let it go down so she could leave.
Disgusting facilities and horrible prima donna behavior from the owner. Don’t waste your time unless you absolutely have to.

Arias studios has an effectivity rate. depending on WHY youre going there. Ive only been to 1 show there and it was a student showcase.
For rentals, and rehearsals of all types its the most desirable studio rental option/​doesnt get better for the price.

I’m not sure how long this space has been around, but it seems to be a work in progress. I’ve been to a few Off B’way spaces and this one is pretty in the middle. I would like to come back in 6mo-​1yr and hopefully see improvements. If there aren’t any… then I guess I was wrong.

My fiancé and I saw a play here this past Saturday night on the fifth floor. From our past experiences, I can definitely say this space is definitely by far the most-​unlike-​a-​theater-​experience theaters, ever. Very low budget– but that did not affect the quality of the play we saw, The Unmitigated Consequences.
The seats weren’t terrible. Not too hard, not too soft. The stage was basic, with a black curtain in the back where the actors changed behind. Very simple.
The whole time we were there we heard loud, thumping music but we are not picky so it didn’t bother us or interfere with our experience. I’m not sure if there was a play going on in a theatre on another floor, or if there’s just a club nearby.

To its credit, Arias Dance studios offer more reasonable prices for their classes than almost anywhere else in the City, including BDC only 2 blocks away. The teachers are very good, especially for Ballet, and they get an extra star for offering Floor Barre. But after New Dance Group lost their space, resulting in a windfall of potential students & teachers needing a new space, Arias didn’t do right by them. If I could add a half-​star, I’d give them 3.5 stars.
Maybe in the future they will make it more suitable for a dance clientele (offer changing rooms, lockers, a sound system that works consistently, have ballet barres in the studios in time for class, etc.), but until they do, it’s not quite up to par.
If you don’t mind these deficiencies, however, the teachers are great.

Saw ‘Sex on the Beach’ here and was entertained by the one-​man show but the theatre space itself is nothing to write home about. It’s intimate and sufficiently ventilated but pretty worn down. If they were going for shabby and uninspired, they achieved it. Perhaps ticket sales go toward production costs?

Very tiny little theatres here, but they’re playing very small budget shows, and people are really putting their heart into it. Give them points for all of these things.
The huge sweaty guy taking your cash before the show, this was priceless.

Everyone is just so friendly. Staff are helpful. Instructors are very patient and will make sure that they attend to their students always. I took Antonia’s class twice and she was just amazing. Though I don’t know if she still works there. She teaches Contemporary.
My fave class in Arias is Jumps and Turns by Scott. I haven’t been going regularly because I work at a Real Estate company and I have a very irregular schedule. But I always try to take his classes. He is very helpful and I am sure he can help you with your techniques. He is a very good dancer and instructor and he gives helpful pointers. I absolutely recommend taking his classes. He is very friendly, supportive, and awesome :)

If you still miss the New Dance Group studios in this neighborhood or you attend Steps on Broadway for your dancing classes, you probably will be very disappointed by the facilities here. Those dancing studios are in a very old building; the floors are not very polished; rooms are not well conditioned; bathrooms are the only places for changing and they are very small.
However, I give this place a four-​star and I am a fan of it because of the people there. Staff are friendly and helpful. Students are very enthusiastic about dancing and you can make friends with them. Classes are small and affordable. Most importantly, teachers are great. If you are looking for ballet classes, I strongly recommend Hitomi’s class. She is from Japan and is the best dancing teacher I have ever had. Her positive energy, big personality, and patience impress everyone. That’s why a dancing studios with 3^rd world standard facilities still do exist in the heart of New York City — it’s all about the people!

I came here for a play «Love Hurts». The play was actually pretty good and everybody in my group actually enjoyed it. The venue leaves a lot to be desired.
Theater was extremely hot, don’t think the place had any air vents or any type of circulation. They could’ve at least opened the windows to give us some sort of breeze. During intermission, they only provided customers with a choice of 5 soft drinks and room temperature water. Very ill equipped venue, definitely don’t plan on going back to the place… Don’t recommend anybody going to this venue unless they HAVE to.