Primary Stages was founded in 1984 by Casey Childs as an Off-Broadway not-for-profit theater company. In 2004, Primary Stages moved from its 99-seat home of 17 years at 354 West 45th Street to the 199-seat theater at 59E59 Theaters. In 2014, the company moved to The Duke on 42nd Street until 2016, when the Cherry Lane Theatre became the home for all Primary Stages productions.

For over 30 years, Primary Stages has put on more than 130 new plays by writers such as Horton Foote, A.R. Gurney, Tanya Saracho, Romulus Linney, Dan O'Brien, Donald Margulies, Kate Hamill, Christopher Durang, Terrence McNally, Danai Gurira, Nikkole Salter, John Patrick Shanley, Mac Wellman, Sharon Washington, Lee Blessing, and David Ives.

Primary Stages 9th season included the world premiere of All in the Timing by David Ives, the most produced play in the United States during the 1995/96 season.^[1]

Primary Stages supports playwrights and develops new works through commissions, workshops, readings and two flagship programs: The Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group, and The Marvin and Anne Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA).

Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group^[2]

Primary Stages is host to the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group, which brings together six to eight emerging playwrights each season to create new plays for the American theater. These playwrights attend weekly meetings in the fall and spring, where they bring new pages to each session and receive feedback on their works in progress. At the end of the season, Primary Stages presents the first public reading of these plays in The Dorothy Strelsin Fresh Ink Readings Series.

Since its inception, over 45 full-length plays have been written in the group, many of which have been produced by prominent local and national theaters including Long Wharf Theatre, Blue Light, South Coast Repertory, The New Group, New York Stage and Film, Cherry Lane Theatre, and Primary Stages.

2018/19 members:

• Kevin Artigue
• Hilary Bettis
• Eleanor Burgess
• Chisa Hutchinson
• Elizabeth Irwin
• Jon Kern
• Matthew Minnicino
• Erica Saleh
• Jordan Seavey
• Charly Evon Simpson

Past members:

Primary Stages Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA)^[3]

ESPA is open to all artists, in all stages of their careers.

ESPA offers a series of intensive classes in acting, playwriting, and directing taught by industry professionals that include PS staff members along with working professionals such as: Joshua Harmon, Winter Miller, Richard Topol, Judy Gold, Rogelio Martínez, Edwin Sanchez, and Morgan Jenness. Previous faculty members include Lucy Thurber, Julia Jordan, Brooke Berman, Dan O'Brien, Sarah Ruhl, Jessica Hecht, Tanya Barfield, Cusi Cram, and Judith Light. The school is run by the Primary Stages Associate Director of Education, Sarah Matteucci.

Primary Stages has seen three Broadway transfers with its productions of In Transit in 2016, Bronx Bombers in 2014, and Dividing the Estate in 2008.