The Marines' Memorial Theatre

609 Sutter St. | map |

Opened: 1926 as the Community Playhouse. The theatre is on the second and third floors of the thirteen story building housing the Marines' Memorial Club and Hotel on the southwest corner of Sutter and Mason. The 2016 photo is one of over 300 view of the building appearing on the site Trip Advisor.

Website: marinesmemorial.org/theatre | on Facebook: facebook.com/MarinesMemorialTheatre

Seating: 564

Architects: Walter Danforth Bliss and William Baker Faville of the firm Bliss and Faville

The non-profit Marines Memorial Association bought the building in 1946. It was originally the Western Womens Club. 

An ad appearing in the December 23, 1928 issue of the Examiner.  

 

Noted impresario and teacher Elizabeth Holloway presented shows at the Playhouse in the 20s and possibly offered classes in the building as well. In the late 30s she had her "School of the Theatre" operation at the Fairmont Hotel Playhouse. After 1946 her operation moved back to this building, by then renamed the Marines' Memorial.  

Herbert Blau and Julius Irving's San Francisco Actor's Workshop leased the theatre in 1955. In 1959, in addition to continuing at this theatre, they also started using the Encore Theatre on Mason St. for smaller productions. See the San Francisco Actor's Workshop website for a history of the company. Thanks to Steve Sigel for the data.

In 1956 Viveca Lindfors appeared in the Actor's Workshop production of "The Stronger." Productions in 1958 included June runs of the Actor's Workshop productions of "Camino Real" and "The Crucible." In October Ken Letner's Ensemble Studio production of "The Chalk Garden" used the theatre. In November 1958 the theatre was home to "Brittanicus," produced by the Vieux-Colombier group. 

The Interplayers was another theatre group that presented shows at the Marines' Memorial. See some data at the bottom of the page on the Kearny Theatre, one of their many homes, for more data on the group. 

From 1965 until 1982 the house was the home of American Conservatory Theatre. Gary Meyer comments:

"My biggest problem has always been the ground floor sightlines so I prefer the balcony. But I have seen great shows here. ACT ran both the Geary and Marines in rep for several years. One of my favorite ACT shows was René Auberjonois, 1965, starring in 'Charley's Aunt' (on some nights he was also doing 'Tartuffe' at the Geary and they got great press about his run between theaters with split-second timing to appear in his scenes in both shows, literally jumping into the aunt's dress as he came on stage) and his return to SF in 'The Foreigner' (1988). Then there was Vincent Price as Oscar Wilde, Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas as Tom and Huck in the misfire but memorable 'The Boys of Autumn,' Jeff McBride's unique magic show, 'Stomp! and 'Angels in America.'"

Michael Blythe notes that shows he saw during their tenure at the theatre included "The Pope And The Witch" and "Miss Evers' Boys." Ethan Neilson recalls the 1972 production of "Sleuth."

"Greater Tuna" had a run at the Marines' in 1984 according to Robley Browne. 

 

Stage data:

Proscenium: 31' 8" wide x 19' 6" high

Apron lip to proscenium plaster line: 4' 5"

Plaster line to back wall: 22' 3"    To back wall pilasters: 21' 1"

Stage to auditorium floor: 3' 7". There's no orchestra pit.

Stage Left wing space: Approximately 18' x 11'. Dimensions include space under a loft.

-- clearance under loft: 11" 6". The loft is generally storage, can be used as a prop room.

 

Stage Right wing space: Approximately 14' x 15'. Dimensions include space under a loft.

-- clearance under loft: 9' 8". In the loft it's the dimmer room upstage plus a small adjoining work room DS behind the organ grille. 

Rigging: 16 underhung hemp sets are available. 3 lift lines per set, battens approximately 46' long. The pinrail is SR at stage level. High trim 23'. There's no grid. In addition, there are several counterweighted sets for 1st electric and main valance. There's no fire curtain. A deluge system is installed at the proscenium.  

Loading: The theatre is on the 2nd floor. Some items can come up the stairs or on an elevator. The 10' x 5' 8" loading door USR opens onto the alley behind the building, 45' above street level. A crane is required.

Dressing rooms: Off left, down a ramp. 

Thanks to Greg Wilson for the tech information. He was the theatre's technical director from around 1996 until 2015. He adds: "Almost forgot one more interesting fact about the lofts! They were either built, or modified by ACT for their production of 'Angels in America,' to be used to fly the angel."

Status: Greg Wilson commented in May 2022: "I now lease the space from the Marines' Memorial Association. We’ve reopened and are booking shows!"

 

Interior views: 

Looking in from Sutter Street. The stairs up to the theatre are on the right. Photo: Trip Advisor. 

 

 

A c.1968 look at the boxoffice. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for sharing this photo taken by Tom Gray. 

 

 

  

The bar in the second floor lobby. Photo: Jeff M on Yelp - 2020

 

 

The entrance doors. Photo: Jason F on Yelp - 2017

 

 

An inner lobby view from the page about the theatre on the site Eventective.

 

 A look across the front of the auditorium. Photo: Eventective 

 

 

 

The rear of the house. Photo: Eventective  

 

 

 

A house right balcony view. Photo: Eventective  

 

 

 

From house left. Photo: Eventective 

 

 

A look back to the booth. Photo: Eventective 

 

 

An alley shot: 

 

 

Thanks to Tom Hansen for this loading door view, added as a comment to a post on the BAHT Facebook page. He discusses the situation: 

 

"I worked on a bunch of shows here as a stagehand and electrician in the mid-late 80s. Load ins were special there, since the 'loading dock' was 3 floors above the street, and the trucks had to be unloaded on Mason, (a 7-8% grade), and scenery lifted with a crane to the loading door. I don't recall the name of the guy who operated the crane, but he had a little dog with him that was always running around. This process became more challenging when they built the Portman Hotel (now Mariott) across the alley."

Will Simonds adds: "Miserable place to load in a show."

More street views: 

 

A c.1968 look at the entrance by Tom Gray. It's a photo from the Jack Tillmany collection.  

 

 

A later view by Tom Gray. Thanks to Jack for sharing it. 

 

A postcard from the Jack Tillmany collection.

More information: Wikipedia has an article about the Marines Memorial Club. Yelp has 27 photos of the theatre. The San Francisco Public Library has a half dozen photos of productions at the theatre in the 1950s. 

The site Noe Hill has a page about the architects, Bliss and Faville. Also see the listing on the Pacific Coast Architecture Database.  The site 640 Heritage Preservation also has a page about Bliss and Faville.

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