SF Theater Openings and Closings

SOMA gets a Boxcar, meanwhile the Academy of Art waves cash in front of the departing Lorraine Hansberry

News Report by Chloe Veltman, SF Weekly Theater Critic

I always get excited when I hear news of new performing arts spaces opening up in our area. It serves as a much-needed antidote to the usual Bay Area story of companies being thrown out of their homes (a laTheatreFirst in Oakland and theLorraine Hansberry in San Francisco) and spaces just shutting down and staying empty for years.

The SOMA area of San Francisco has become a hotbed for alternative theatre in recent years, what with theC.A.F.E/Off Market Space, Counterpulse and The Garage at 975 Howard joining stalwarts like 111 Minna and The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts as venues for live shows. The latest addition to SOMA's underground performance scene isBoxcar Theatre's space at the former Bindlestiff Studio.

The Boxcar Playhouse will seat 49 in a black box theatre at 505 Natoma Street after the company signs a long-term lease on the space and renovates it as a permanent new home. The Boxcar launches August 18 with a fund-raising gala and a season preview; expect a chocolate fountain. Enough said.

In other "new space" news, the latest bulletin indicates progress regarding theLorraine Hansberry battle against The Academy of Art University regarding custody of its home in downtown San Francisco. The Academy of Art University has reportedly offered the Theatre a financial package providing $125,000 to secure a new space.

The principal terms of the offer are as follows:

• The term of the Theatre's lease will be extended past July 31, 2007 at a below market rate rent of $10,000 per month, allowing the Theatre to complete its holiday program and to locate new space.

• The Academy of Art University will reimburse $50,000 to the Theatre once it fulfills its rent obligations and vacates the space in January 2008.

• The Academy of Art University will pay up to $25,000 in relocation expenses, and $50,000 for the cost of building its new space.

We'll see what happens.