Theatre Bay Area Celebrates the Return of “Bay Area Theatre Week”

20+ Bay Area theatre companies to offer free and low-price events to audiences in a region-wide celebration of live theatre  

Bay Area Theatre Week to run September 12 — 22, 2025 

 
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (August 20, 2025) – Theatre Bay Area, is thrilled to share the return of the wildly popular Bay Area Theatre Week, a 10-day celebration of our vital local theatre community this fall. Audiences are invited to join us for this festival of discounted and free events created by local theatres. This year, Theatre Bay Area is expanding Bay Area Theatre Week offerings to include free events, social mixers, and classes in addition to discounted shows. Throughout the festival, audiences will discover theatre in their neighborhood, support local artists, and enjoy amazing live performances across the Bay. The official Bay Area Theatre Week calendar featuring events across the Bay is available at TheatreBayArea.org/BATW25 and is updated daily as events are added. Events begin September 12, 2025.  

Data clearly shows that performing arts have an outsized impact on the health and vitality of our community. A 2025 arts and economic vitality study found that “for every theater ticket purchased, San Francisco gets $47 in economic impact, supporting small businesses and jobs in our city.” Additionally, the CVL Economics Report found across the board that “for every 100 Performing Arts jobs in 2021, an additional 156 jobs were supported in other sectors through downstream impacts.” Bay Area Theatre Week celebrates our theatres and audiences with 10 days of shows and events that deepen our connection to theatre and boost our local economy.  

This year’s celebration includes over thirty free and discounted events hosted by more than twenty regional theatres including Sunset Baby at Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Hamlet at Oakland Theater Project, and the Tony Award winning play Eureka Day co-produced by Marin Theatre and Aurora Theatre Company. There’s discounted arts access for the whole family with musicals like Addams Family at Berkeley Playhouse, and events like the Creative Movement Workshop at People’s Circus Theatre. 

Select Bay Area Theatre Week Free Events 

Bay Area Theatre Board Match Mixer 

Monday, September 15, 6 PM at Z Space in San Francisco 

Theatre Bay Area, Z Space, and Killing My Lobster are hosting a collaborative board match event that will bring theatre companies and potential new board members together in a fun and casual atmosphere. The night will be structured with opportunities for both companies and individuals to make short pitches about themselves in an open-mic style format as well as open time to mingle and form genuine, personal connections.   

Bridging Turtle Island: ATE & ITMéxico Present New Works 

Produced by Alter Theater Ensemble at Marin Shakespeare Theatre 

In partnership with ITMéxico, Marin Shakespeare Company, and Dominican University of California, Alternative Theater Ensemble presents this free, one-night-only staged reading series of new works by playwrights resisting censorship through humor, solidarity, and joy. Inviting audiences to join them at Forest Meadows Amphitheatre in San Rafael for a culmination of their work during In the Margin’s artist residency in Sahuayo, Michoacán.   

Select Bay Area Theatre Week Discounted Events 

Kim’s Convenience

American Conservatory Theater – 50% discounts on mezzanine seating from 9/18 – 9/23 

This hilarious and heartwarming award-winning comedy drama about a Korean family-run corner store that inspired the popular Netflix hit is a feel-good ode to generations of immigrants who have made Canada the country that it is today. Mr. Kim works hard to support his wife and children with his Toronto convenience store. As he evaluates his future, he faces both a changing neighborhood landscape and the gap between his values and those of his Canada-born children. Playwright Ins Choi, who will also star in the production as the title character, calls “Kim’s Convenience” his “love letter to his parents and to all first-generation immigrants who call Canada their home.” 

“A.C.T. is excited to be a part of Bay Area Theatre Week, a region-wide celebration of the power of story, creativity and community on our stages, in classrooms, and studios,” says A.C.T. Artistic Director Pam MacKinnon. “We look forward to welcoming audiences old and new to the fun.” 

The Reservoir 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre – 20% discounts on performances from 9/12-9/21 

Josh is a hot mess of a queer twenty-something. He’s dropped out of school to get his life together — but can’t manage to stay sober. Struggling with fogginess and memory loss, he finds unlikely allies in his four hilarious grandparents. Desperate for a sense of purpose, Josh sets out to bring them along on his road to recovery. He drags them to Jazzercise at the JCC. He makes them play memory games. He insists they eat spinach by the handful. Eventually, he slams up against the limits of his quest. When he can no longer help his grandparents, they begin to help him. The Reservoir is Jake Brasch’s sharply funny and deeply heartfelt new comedy about family, memory, and the path toward healing. 

The full list of participating theatres represents a broad spectrum of local theatres from across the Bay Area. Partner theatres for this year’s Bay Area Theatre Week include Alternative Theatre Ensemble, American Conservatory Theatre, A.C.T’s Young Conservatory, BATS Improv, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Playhouse, Center Repertory Theatre, Cinnabar Theater, Hillbarn Theatre Inc., Killing My Lobster, Lamplighters Music Theatre, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Mannakin Theater and Dance, Marin Shakespeare Company, Marin Theatre, New Conservatory Theatre Center, Oakland Theater Project, Palo Alto Players, People’s Circus Theatre, Ray of Light Theatre,  San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Shotgun Players, San Francisco War Memorial & Performing Arts Center, Sonoma Arts Live, Studio A.C.T, The Marsh, Z Space. More shows and events are being announced on a rolling basis.   

More information on all productions, performance schedules, and ordering opportunities can be found on the Bay Area Theatre Week page on the Theatre Bay Area website, TheatreBayArea.org/BATW25, with links to participating theatres’ websites selling Bay Area Theatre Week tickets.   

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ABOUT THEATRE BAY AREA 

Founded in 1976, Theatre Bay Area is one of the largest regional performing arts service organizations in North America. Our members—some 200 theatre companies and 3,000 individual artists—produce thousands of performances and engage more than a million arts patrons each year.  

Theatre Bay Area is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to unite, strengthen, promote and advance the theatre community in the San Francisco Bay Area, working on behalf of our conviction that the performing arts are an essential public good, critical to a healthy and truly democratic society, and invaluable as a source of personal enrichment and growth. Visit theatrebayarea.org for more information. 

EVENT DETAILS 

What: Bay Area Theatre Week 
Dates: Friday, September 12 through Monday, September 22,2025 

Learn More: TheatreBayArea.org/BATW25