They just couldn’t say no.
Quirky aerial arts performance venue the House of Yes showed off its new space in Bushwick last weekend, after nearly two years without a permanent home.
Entertainers christened the new theater at Jefferson and Wyckoff avenues on Saturday and Sunday with an array of acrobatic, dance, and performance-art acts as part of Bushwick Open Studios, a weekend-long celebration in which arts outfits around the neighborhood open their doors to the public. The new space isn’t quite finished yet, but an organizer said there was no way the venue was going to miss out on the biggest party in its new ’hood.
“We feel like we are part of the neighborhood family now,” said House or Yes co-founder Anya Sapozhnikova. “We are in a real neighborhood now, so we wanted to be part of this amazing celebration.”
The House of Yes crew will need a few more months to complete its make-over of the building, which used to be a laundromat, Sapozhnikova said. The team has already raised the roof — literally — to accommodate high-flying acts, built a restaurant and bar, and fitted the facility out with entirely new wiring and plumbing. But it still has to finish installing the rigging, lighting, and a few more bathrooms, she said.
The last House of Yes was in a warehouse on Maujer Street in Williamsburg, but the venue had to vacate in August of 2013 after the landlord tried to double the rent. Before that, it was located in a Ridgewood house that burned down because of a faulty toaster.
The organizers plan to start slowly in the new space, only opening a few days a week until they get the hang of how to run a much larger venue. The outfit should have a full schedule by the fall, which is when the restaurant and bar will open, said Sapozhnikova.
