Lorraine Hansberry out of Post Street by / Sam Hurwitt

News came today that Lorraine Hansberry Theatre will be leaving its new home at 450 Post Street and returning to nomadic life next season. An announcement went out today from LHT board president Albert Dixon, saying:

“In planning our 32nd season, we have re-evaluated our move to 450 Post. We have concluded it is not cost effective, requiring that we invest too much of our resources into the building and not the art. We also recognize that the majority of our audience lives in the East Bay. So we have decided to leave 450 Post and embark on a campaign we call Bringing the Art to the Audience.

“We will present and perform in different venues throughout the Bay Area. We remain a San Francisco based company. In 2013 we will present plays at theatre locations in The City; starting this fall expect to see us performing in the East Bay, South Bay and North Bay. We will also present programs in neighborhood locations in San Francisco. We know our audience has traveled to see us, now we will travel to them.”

It was only a year ago that the Lorraine Hansberry moved into the 729-seat Post Street location, which was formerly the Post Street Theatre and Theatre on the Square. The move had been a long time coming. The theatre had been homeless since 2007, when it was evicted from its 300-seat home of 20 years in the historic YWCA building on Sutter Street that had recently been purchased by the Academy of Art University. After a couple of nomadic seasons, the company was ready to sign a lease at Post Street in spring 2010, but the failing health of cofounders Quentin Easter and Stanley E. Williams put both the deal and their season on hold, and both founders passed away within a few months. With the company revived under new artistic director Steven Anthony Jones, the Lorraine Hansberry signed a five-year lease on the Post Street Theatre last June.

As it has in nomadic seasons past, LHT will also offer other companies’ productions (with subject matter appropriate to its mission as an African American theatre company) to its subscribers as part of its season. In this part of the letter, Dixon may have inadvertently scooped another nearby company on the big announcement that it’s been hinting about, to be announced later this week: “Expect us to offer in the coming months a menu of plays that provide great value to you ... plays we know you will enjoy. This will even include two shows by the SF Playhouse, which is moving into 450 Post St.”


Sam Hurwitt is editor-in-chief for Theatre Bay Area. He is also the author of The Idiolect, a blog about theatre, movies, comics, media and the decline and fall of Western civilization. E-mail sam@theatrebayarea.org.