Like a diamond that is formed within the Earth's crust under conditions of intense heat and pressure, the Buffalo art scene has undergone a similar process producing diamond quality artist within the global art world. In the early 20th C, there were over 50 theatres in the Buffalo theatre district when the city was called the “gateway of the west” during the time when the city bustled with canal and rail traffic passing from the Atlantic seaboard to the Great Lakes. Throughout much of the 20th Century, the city thrived as a shopping and entertainment center. However, by the 1970s the golden era of downtown retailing and commerce had largely faded.

This area would rise again, inspired, in large measure, by the community effort to save Shea’s Buffalo Theater, the City sponsored Entertainment District plan of 1978 and the establishment of the Theatre Historic Preservation District in the early 1980s.

This concept is dedicated to the Alleyway Theatre. Constructed in 1941 by Central Greyhound Lines, the building served for decades as the city’s primary bus depot. Greyhound moved to new facilities in the late seventies. During the summer of 1979 the depot was used by Metro Goldwyn Mayer in connection with the film “Hide In Plain Sight.” In 1983 the Buffalo Theatre Collective began leasing other space within the building from the City with plans to develop a theatre which opened as Alleyway Theatre on December 5, l985. It was in April of 2001 Alleyway Theatre took full occupancy of the building.