NEWS from the "carpeted side of the footlights"

A December trip to investigate the theater scene in San Francisco became quite the companion piece to my Chicago research trip in early July. Although not nearly as rich as the Chicago theater landscape, the city is steeped in theater. Along with such iconic houses as Berkeley Rep (overseen by master play selector, Tony Tacone) and American Conservatory Theatre, the Bay Area takes pride in housing the unassuming experimental theatre The EXIT, the Aurora Theatre (next door to Berkeley Rep), and the Eureka Theater, famous for introducing audiences to Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, as well as revered works by David Mamet and Anna Deavere Smith.

During my brief stay, I was able to experience a diverse sampling of San Francisco’s theater offerings.

I started out with a visit to Berkeley Rep and the Aurora Theatre. Like Montgomery Theater, Aurora has developed a solid subscription base and has strong audience return rates. Artistic Director, Tom Ross gave credit for the popular success of his 2009 season to “well placed, well-timed press” which contributed to the sold out extended runs of every play last year.

Experimental theater is the domain of Rob Melrose, the Artistic Director of Cutting Ball Theater (a professional, non-union company) which he founded with his wife, Paige Rogers. They also run Risk is This, one of the only play festivals in North America producing exclusively experimental work. I was delighted to be able to attend his production of The Bald Soprano, considered by many to be the maternal parent of experimental theatre. Comparing Montgomery Theater’s use of classic 20th Century pieces to his choice of The Bald Soprano, Rob said “I count on doing a few ‘classical avant-garde plays’ (an oxymoron, I know) to broaden our audience which hopefully allows for the rest of our fare to be a little more risky and less familiar.”

San Francisco Playhouse is the San Francisco theater most similar to Montgomery Theater. Its founders, Bill English and Susi Damilan, are also husband and wife and, while their facility has a smaller capacity than Montgomery Theater, their performance runs are nearly twice as long. Their use of AEA contracts, eclectic season selections and their target audience are all similar to Montgomery Theater. Its presentation of She Stoops to Comedy, was well received and attended on the night I was there.

Boxcar Theatre’s Artistic Director Nick Olivera claims to have arrived in San Francisco with a “passion for daring and affordable theatre” after being disenchanted by his experience in the Chicago theater community. He found Chicago to be “saturated and overdeveloped” whereas San Francisco, by his estimation, “has a thriving arts environment and is always hungry for inventive ideas.” His company, which he oversees with Associate Artistic Director Peter Mathews, has underpinnings that are similar to the Moscow Art Theatre but has a base philosophy that, in Nick’s words, guides them to “approach their work as a director’s medium with more emphasis on the visual and less on the dialogue.”

A lengthy conversation with playwright Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, gave me some interesting insight into the Bay Area theater scene. I was already familiar with his plays Hunter Gatherers and boom, which have been recently produced in Philadelphia, and even though Peter is a writer, he is also an actor and spoke about the critical void that Bay Area actors are experiencing in professional theatre. According to Peter, there is a lack of mid-range theaters that employ professional actors. He said that, while there are good, larger production houses (ACT, Berkeley Rep) and interesting smaller venues (EXIT, Thick House, Magic Theatre, Aurora Theatre), there is a distinct lack of the moderately sized spaces that accommodate respectable Equity contracts and provide a living wage for actors. Peter claims that the number of San Francisco professional actors who make their living (full-time) in theatre is somewhere around six. Six! For a major American city, that is astounding and horrifying.

Freelance director Matthew Graham Smith, who is also the Artistic Director of Precarious Theatre, also spoke about the lack of mid-size San Francisco theatres. He believes that Actors’ Equity should be making concessions with smaller theatres in order to create more work. He explained that “there are plenty of opportunities for non-union actors, but not for AEA members.” Graham introduced me to Golden Thread Productions, a small 13 year old company where, as a Guest Director, he guided a production of I’m not a Serial Killer, which I was glad to be able to catch on its closing night performance.

Montgomery Theater has been producing plays by playwrights from all over the country, bringing a sense of shared culture from their story telling. Now, with the combined research from two extraordinary cities – San Francisco and Chicago – I feel even better equipped to bring back a little of the cultural landscape I experienced. An experience to help color the exceptional stories I promise to continue to deliver to you……from the carpeted side of the footlights.

Tom Quinn