San Francisco Playhouse
| SF Playhouse The Playhouse |
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| Address | 450 Post Street San Francisco United States |
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| Capacity | 199 |
| Production | The Christians |
| Opened | 2003 |
| Website | |
| http://sfplayhouse.org | |
San Francisco Playhouse (formerly SF Playhouse) is a non-profit theater company in San Francisco, California founded in 2003 by Bill English and Susi Damilano. The theater stages nine plays yearly, including Broadway plays, musicals, and world and regional premieres.
San Francisco Playhouse has been home to several notable world premieres, including Bauer by Lauren Gunderson, Ideation by Aaron Loeb, and Seared by Theresa Rebeck.
As part of its mission to shape and promote the growth of performing arts in the Bay Area, San Francisco Playhouse created the Rising Star Program, which provides theatre tickets to under-served youths in San Francisco and surrounding communities.
In 2012, San Francisco Playhouse moved from 533 Sutter Street to a 199-seat theater at 450 Post Street, inside of the Kensington Park Hotel. The building was constructed in 1924 by architect Anthony Heinsberger as a lodge for the Elks. The Elks began leasing out portions of the building in 1981. Their former meeting hall was converted into a 750-seat theater by architect Gene Angell in 1982 for producers Jonathan Reisis and Joseph Perrotti. They presented more than 60 productions in the space as Theatre on the Square. When Theatre on the Square closed down in 2002, the theater served as the home of other groups, including The Post Street Theatre and The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, before becoming the site of San Francisco Playhouse. During its tenure with The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, renovations were made including reducing the audience capacity to 400. The San Francisco Playhouse further reduced the seating to 199 prior to their inaugural production in the space in October 2012.
As of 2016[update]:
The Rising Star Theatre Attendance Program inspires a new generation of theatregoers by providing Bay Area high school students with a four play season subscription. As part of the TAP, students receive a pre-show lesson plan that includes theatre games/warm-ups, scene teasers and comprehension questions; the post-show lesson provides further enrichment with activities that draw on their experience as audience members. Rising Stars also participate in an immediate post-show discussion with the cast and director. They then write a letter to their adult subscriber-sponsor describing their reactions to the performances.
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