The idea of "poor theater" is about stripping down performance to its naked essentials: the actor and the audience.

It seemed poor theater to her.

It is dance poor in certain respects but expressive physical theater in its storytelling.

Brenton described plays like this as being for the poor theatre and written "to turn "bad theatrical conditions" to advantage".

"That poor theater has been torn apart limb by limb," said James Vacca, the district manager for Community Board 10.

Jerzy Grotowski's notion of a "poor theatre" - "The core of the theatre is an encounter".

Trying to explain his concept of a "poor theater," he dismissed "directorial tricks, preconceived notions, intellectual concepts, gymnastics, chaos, cries, violence."

Though it may not be precisely "poor theater," its $400,000 price tag is certainly modest by New York standards.

That dispute had heretofore been deemed irrelevant except as poor theater by most investors, who assumed a deal would be reached eventually.

The Berliner Ensemble used to be a relatively poor theater; now, it's one of the best-subsidized in Germany.