Spending a night at the Port Authority Bus Terminal is the last thing many New Yorkers want to do. But there’s a new reason to reconsider: Hidden behind an unmarked door between an Irish pub and a Dunkin’ Donuts in the south wing is the Hidden Jewel Box Theater, which has been quietly selling out shows since this past October.
”When people come in, they’re just so stunned,” said Angela Harriell, director of the Love Show NYC, a theatrical dance troupe based out of the space. “They say things like, ‘I’ve done so many New York things, but this is completely different. This is the most New Yorkiest New York thing ever.’”
The venue, which seats roughly 40 people, was once a Mrs. Fields cookie store and has existed as a performance space in some capacity for the past five years. In 2021, the nonprofit arts organization Chashama — which works to provide affordable workspaces for visual artists — turned the storefront into a performance space that was cordoned off and visible to the greater terminal.
After losing her Bushwick studio space last year, Hariell looked to re-base the Love Show at Port Authority and transform the space once again, this time into an enclosed theater.
Working with a budget she described as “shoestring,” she sourced secondhand curtains and chairs, transforming the 688-square-foot space into the Hidden Jewel Box. She describes its aesthetic as a “Midnight Summer Rococo Disco kind of situation.”
In October, the Love Show had its first performance at the Jewel Box — a Quentin Tarantino-inspired “A Kill Bill Ballet” — which sold out, as have all seven of the Love Show’s subsequent performances. The Jewel Box has also hosted a variety of shows from other groups and artists, as well as classes, workshops, table reads and meetups.
The venue exists due to grants from Chashama and the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the arrangement hinges on the space remaining vacant, Hariell said. That could change if a major retailer were to express interest in leasing the space.
The Love Show is gearing up for a performance of “Gl’Amour: A Tantalizing Cabaret Experience” at the end of next month. Tickets are around $45 and available for purchase online.
