2796 Hyde St. | map |
Opened: December 3, 1949 as a legit venue called the Interplayers. The building was on the southeast corner of Hyde and Beach. In this c.1954 shot they're offering something by Moliere. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for locating the image. It had appeared as a post for the Market Street Railway Facebook group and is also offered as a poster on Etsy.
Jack comments on the group's early history:
"The Interplayers, 'a
young drama group,' first appeared on the San Francisco scene 10 May 1947 with
an evening of Chekhov at the Friends Center, 1830 Sutter St.
The next few years, they seem to have floated around town, making the
usual stops at the Marines Memorial Theatre, the California Palace of
the Legion of Honor, the San Francisco Museum of Art, etc., finally
settling in on their own site at 2796 Hyde on 3 December 1949, only to
have it shut down the following February by the Fire Prevention
Department, but finally re-opening again in November 1950.
"They later
split up into 2 groups; group #1 remained at the Hyde Street site, then
identified as The Playhouse, and group #2, using the original
Interplayers identity, moved into the Verdier Mansion at 1001 Vallejo."
A c.1954 photo by Tom Gray that's from the Jack Tillmany collection. He notes that here we see the same Moliere poster as in the shot at the top of the page.
Looking out from the Buena Vista Cafe toward The Playhouse in 1958. Thanks to Ben Johnny Valdez for locating the image for a post for the San Francisco Remembered Facebook group.
A 1961 view by an unknown photographer. We're looking up Hyde toward Russian Hill with the Buena Vista on the far right. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating it on the Open SF History Project website.
A c.1964-65 Playhouse production of Friedrich Dürrenmatt's "The Physicists," directed by Henry Stein. Thanks to Wade Freitag for sharing the image of the poster from his collection.
Genet's "The Blacks," directed by David Lindeman. It's an image from another c.1964-65 poster in the collection of Wade Freitag. He notes that both of these were printed by The Bindweed Press.
A c.1968 view of the building as The Playhouse. It's a photo by Tom Gray that's in the Jack Tillmany collection.
Closing: It's unknown when The Playhouse closed.
Status: The corner has been redeveloped with a new building now on the site.
The new building at Hyde and Beach on the site of The Playhouse. It's a 2019 image from Google Maps.
Later moves of the group keeping the Interplayers name: After their stint at the Verdier Mansion, they moved in 1954 to the Kearny/Bella Union Theatre near Portsmouth Square. See "The Paripatetic Interplayers Find Themselves a New Roost," a May 21, 1954 Chronicle article Jack located.
In 1962 they moved to a new Interplayers Theatre at 747 Beach St., in the block to the west of the earlier Hyde and Beach location. That venue was later run as a 16mm film house by Mel Novikoff's Surf Theatres. It closed in 1972.
More information: Jack Tillmany's Arcadia Publishing book "Theatres of San Francisco" can be previewed on Google Books. It's available from Amazon or your local bookseller.
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My uncle, Patric Hickey, was an actor and lighting designer at the Playhouse in the 50-60s. I still remember the smell of the theater. I have a photo of him and the other actors there at the theater. I’m unable to attach a copy here, though.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you, Debra. I'd love to add your photo to the page. You can get it to me at counterb@gmail.com Thanks!
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