In The Street Theatre Festival

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In the Street is no longer produced.
This page for historical information only.

500 Block of Ellis Street

San Francisco

WHY IN THE STREET ?

Why would 200 artists and performers come together in a neighborhood like the Tenderloin with little hope of getting any pay for their efforts? Because... street theatre is where it's at!

Street theatre is a vital art form endemic to the cultural fabric and traditional rituals of peoples worldwide. While there are over a thousand street theatre festivals each year in countries throughout Europe, Africa, South America and Asia, IN THE STREET is the only one in the United States. Street theatre is immediate, intimate and interactive. It is a colorful celebration which challenges the harshness of our urban landscape. Street theatre is a reclamation of our public spaces and our community. For the artist, street theatre offers a world of possibilities outside the pre-defined structures of walls and stages, a place to re-invent their relationship to their art and their audience. It is raw and demanding of honesty and integrity, theatre where the audience shares the stage. For the "spectator" street theatre offers a rich cultural experience in which all can join freely; a place where community can come together in a shared and positive celebratory event. IN THE STREET seeks to bring theatre back to the street, the community and its roots in daily life.

THE FESTIVAL

Started in 1995 by Moshe Cohen of Clowns Without Borders, Amy Christian of Wise Fool and Darryl Smith of the 509 Cultural Center, In the Street is a neighborhood and San Francisco tradition. It is eagerly awaited by the residents, children and organizers of San Francisco's Tenderloin district as well as a growing alternative theatre going audience. IN THE STREET is co produced by Wise Fool Puppet Intervention andThe 509 Cultural Center. In its first year, ITS offered two free days of street theatre on Ellis street as well as a temporal sculpture garden and Hands-On table. Our second year saw the expansion of the Festival to include a night time free street theatre event on Capp street in the Mission district as well as four free Tuesday "lunch time" events at the Yerba Buena Gardens in collaboration with the Arts Center. Past artists have included Guillermo Gomez-Pena, Loco Bloco, Teatro Ng Tanan, Los Payasos Mendigos, The Vietnamese Youth Development Center, Wise Fool Puppet Intervention, Project Bandaloop, Pearl Ubungen Dancers and Musicians, Mr Lu Yi's Young Chinese Acrobats, CORE, High Risk Group, and the Prescott Clowns (an Oakland basedyouth project). ITS staff work to connect artist groups with local Tenderloin service agencies in an effort to inspire collaborative works which speak directly to the people and concerns of the neighborhood. As is our unique custom, the festival focuses entirely on free theatre and cultural events with no vending of food or products.

THE SITE

At this time when economics are creating a larger and larger chasm between those with money and those without, we feel it is imperative to firmly place theatre outside the realm of luxury. With the ever increasing problems in funding for the arts, theatre has become pulled away from the majority of the public, many of whom cannot afford the exorbitant prices being charged for an evening of theatre even at local community and cultural centers. ITS speaks directly to this need for affordable, accessible theatre for the SF community. More specifically, ITS is centered in the Tenderloin district, a neighborhood where most theatre is both economically and socially inaccessible to its local residents . It is also a neighborhood surrounded by a mystique of fear and danger, trapping people, especially elderly and children inside their apartments, where they are silenced and separated from the strength to be found in community. Finally, the Tenderloin is a neighborhood where street life abounds, where people accept, respond and often are inspired to participate in outdoor spectacles such as those offered at the festival.