Lin-Manuel Miranda helps save the Drama Book Shop

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - No more drama for the Drama Book Shop in the Theater District. The century-old bookstore was in danger of shutting down due to rising rent costs. But now Broadway superstar Lin-Manuel Miranda is stepping in to help save the legendary independent bookstore.

Ric Anderson, the store's senior manager, called the news a relief.

"In conversations with the landlord, we knew that the rent was going up," Anderson said. "And we knew it would be something that we were not going to be able to afford."

Miranda, the creator of "Hamilton," director Thomas Kail, producer Jeffrey Seller, and theater owner James Nederlander have agreed to buy the bookstore, which has one of the largest selections of plays in the country. They're teaming up with the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment on the deal.

"Our staff will spend a half hour at a time with someone looking for a monologue for an audition or somebody looking for a scene for a class," Anderson said. "And people come back."

Miranda expressed his strong connection to the bookstore on Twitter: "As a teen, I went to the @dramabookshop on 47th. Spent hours reading plays. Felt made for me, a place to go. In 2002, I met with Tommy Kail in the Drama Book Shop. It gave us a place to go. Proud to be part of this next chapter. A place for you to go."

The store also houses theater space for creators to hone their crafts.

"When we were young, upstart theater makers in the city, we had nowhere to go and the book shop took us in, gave us a roof over our heads," Lee Overtree, the creative director of The Story Pirates, said. "A place to create, to learn our craft and to become the company we are today."

The Drama Book Shop will close its doors on West 40th Street on Jan. 20. It is expected to reopen in the fall at a new location in the Theater District.