Bushwick has no shortage of nightlife, but a new project landing on Troutman Street is aiming to rewire the whole idea of a night out. Enter Empyrean Club, a forthcoming design-forward venue that wants to combine theater, dining and late-night revelry into one continuous experience.
Set to open next year at 421 Troutman Street, the 10,300-square-foot space is being pitched as part performance venue, part restaurant, part social club—and very intentionally not just another place to see a show and head home. Instead, the idea is that your evening flows from a mainstage production into cocktails, then maybe omakase, then dancing and then wherever the night takes you.
At the center of it all is a 299-seat theater that will anchor the programming, beginning with an exclusive New York City run of American Psycho, directed by Max Hunter, the venue’s founding artistic director. The musical, based on Bret Easton Ellis’s cult novel, has already seen renewed interest after a sold-out run in London. Here, it’s being positioned as the opening act for something much bigger.
“Rather than a traditional theatre, we are creating a garden of earthly delights,” Hunter said. “Empyrean is a place of ecstasy, artistry and real interpersonal connection. When the curtain falls, the night has just begun.”
That ethos extends to everything else happening inside. The club is designed to host a rotating mix of live music, cabaret, comedy, dance and late-night performances, sometimes all in the same evening. A multidisciplinary artist advisory board, made up in part of local creatives, will help shape programming, giving the space a built-in feedback loop.
The food and drinks are also being taken seriously. The culinary program will be led by chef Ham El-Waylly (whose resume includes wd~50 and Empellón), while the bar program will be led by John deBary, formerly of Momofuku.
On the design front, the space is being conceived as something that can shift throughout the night, transforming from theater to lounge to dance floor without missing a beat. “We want to blur the boundaries between venue, artform and experience,” said co-founder Jesse Singer.
If it works, Empyrean Club could offer a glimpse at what going out looks like next: less segmented, more immersive—and a lot harder to leave early.
