What started as a desire to stage a musical production of “American Psycho” has led to Bushwick getting a new cultural venue.
The Empyrean Club, a theater-cum-restaurant-cum-bar-cum-lounge, is set to open a block away from the House Of Yes and the Jefferson Street L station in 2027.
The idea began when director Max Hunter approached producer Lucas Katler about finding a more intimate theater than those on and off Broadway to revive “American Psycho,” the 2013 musical adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' 1991 novel about investment banker and serial killer Patrick Bateman, whom Christian Bale portrayed in a 2000 film of the same name. The show had a brief Broadway run in 2016 and enjoyed a sold-out revival in London this year.
“It really evolved from there," said Katler, a two-time Tony Award-winner whose credits include “Merrily We Roll Along” and David Byrne and Fatboy Slim’s groundbreaking show-experience “Here Lies Love."
”Into why don’t we do something cooler than just [stage] the show, why don’t we build a theater that will not necessarily be a temple to ‘American Psycho’ but will be vaguely inspired by ‘American Psycho,’” and then outlast it and have a life of its own, he added.
Immersive experience producer Jesse Singer was eventually brought on. Together the men got really heady about how to build a venue to ensure overstimulated, tech-addicted youths have the opportunity to share their love for theater.
They asked each other, “How do we really preserve this art form that is so important to all of us in a marketplace that is increasingly challenged with competition both live and also on your phones?” said Hunter. They came ”to the same realization that things need to change” to keep the art form relevant, Singer added.
Bushwick — home of endless young people, myriad large live-music venues, and a burgeoning theater scene — seemed like the right place for their concept. And so they’ve begun building out 421 Troutman St., a more than 10,000-square-foot space most recently home to the fine frame maker Quebracho.
Once complete sometime next year, the venue will include a 299-seat mainstage theater, a sushi restaurant, a bar and multiple lounge spaces.
“This is really our attempt to return to — even if it's in an imagined sense, for those of us who are under 40 — what nightlife was like in New York City in the ‘80s and ‘90s,” Hunter said of Empyrean, which is named for the innermost sanctum of paradise in Dante’s "Inferno.”
The design focus is on intimacy and on proximity to the performance spaces.
“We're doing everything we can to celebrate the live experience, to give people every excuse that they need to get away from their couches, their screens, et cetera,” said Singer. “That's a very important part of the human experience.”
