Art Street Theatre (Producer) first
dipped its feet in San Francisco's theatrical waters during the 1995 San
Francisco Fringe Festival with Mark Jackson's play, Little Extremes,
which reached #2 on the "Audience Favorites" list and sold our
two thirds of its Fringe run. AST subsequently began work on Oscar Wilde's
Salome which ran for the month of January 1996 at The 450 Geary
Studio Theatre, selling out over half of its performances. In April 1996,
Art Street Theatre produced a month long workshop to train company members
and further develop the AST language and aesthetic. The subsiequent production,
R&J, was first produced for the 1996 SF Fringe Festival and
named by the SF Weekly's Mari Coates one of the Five Best Bay Area
Productions of 1996, was then invited to be performed at the 1997 Minnesota
Fringe Festival, and finally was given a full length run at the 450 Geary
Studio Theatre in September and October of 1997. Amidst the year-long R&J
process, AST produced two public Workshop Projects to share the techniques
being developed and utilized in production. AST's is a very physical approach
that leans its weight on the actor, and strives for bold simp[licity in
performance as well as design. Each project, be it a workshop or public
production, is treated as a class where members study not just the play
but also the particular muscles needed to create the play. Our current
production, Brave, will open in May at the EXIT Theatre. Like each
past project, Brave explores aspects of the clash between comfort
and discomfort. This clash informs all of Art Street Theatre's work, as
the company is primarily interested in the dramatic tension caught between
a question and its answers. It is this tension that provides mystery. An
it is mystery that provides purpose. For additional information about Art
Street Theatre please write or call: Mark Jackson, Artistic Director, Art
Street Theatre, 1978A Hayes Street, San Francisco, CA 94117. Phone: 415.751.5922.
Fax 415.986.0411.