OUR FIRST VENUE - THE EUREKA THEATRE

Location

215 Jackson Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
Click here to see a map of the theater location.

A Short History

The Eureka Theatre is a landmark in San Francisco. Founded in 1972 as the Shorter Players, it got its current name in 1974, when the original group was joined by such directors and performers as Richard E.T. White, Danny Glover, and Julie Herbert. The company has launched many well-known actors and directors, staged over seventy World, West Coast and Bay Area premieres, and commissioned new works that have achieved national recognition and acclaim.

After a fire destroyed the group's theatre in 1979, the company moved into a building in the Inner Mission where an annual season of challenging plays was successfully produced for almost a decade. In 1988, the Eureka commissioned playwright Tony Kushner to create Angels in America. Following an intensive development process, Part One was premiered in 1991. The play won both the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize as well as many other accolades.

After a four-year hiatus, the Eureka resumed operating on a full-time basis in 1997 and leased and renovated the Gateway Cinema in downtown San Francisco (the current location) to provide a venue for culturally diverse playwrights and performers. During the past five years the Eureka has become the home of several Bay Area staples, such as the annual Bay Area One-Act Festival which both premiers and showcases new work by local playwrights, the annual San Francisco Sketch Comedy Festival, which has featured such luminaries as the Kids in the Hall and Amy Sedaris, Eastenders Repertory Company, which focuses on gay and lesbian plays and issues, and 42nd Street Moon, a company that brings rarely performed musicals to new audiences.