Personnel

Steven Anthony Jones
Artistic Director

Shirley Howard-Johnson
General Manager

Marc Pâquette
Director of Audience Development/Webmaster

Brandon Iwata
Director of Finance

Jessica Baldwin
Administrative Associate/Donor Development

Curtiss Craig
Theatre Facilities Manager

Elizabeth Carter
ImaginArts Director

Jacinta Kaumbulu
Assistant Education Director

Shelley Bradford-Bell
Grant Writer

Chaylon Blancett
Videographer

Board of Directors 2011
Albert Dixon, President
Russell Stanaland, Vice President
R. Steven Wilkinson, Treasurer
Teveia Barnes, Secretary
Marc Blakeman
Dan Cole
Steven Anthony Jones
Arthur Lathan
Ishmael Reed
Ernest H. Urquhart
Dr. Brenda Wade
Jain Williams

Founding Directors
Stanley E. Williams, 1950-2010
Quentin Easter, 1953-2010

Production Personnel
Graphic Design: Brad Mead
Production Stage Manager: Kevin Johnson
Stage Manager: Marie Shell
Technical Director: Dave Gardner
Master Electrician: Heather Gallagher
Set Designer: Bert van Aalsburg
Costume Designer: Joan Raymond
Sound Designer: David Molina
Light Designer: Allen Willner
Properties Master: Curtiss Craig
Publicity: Sandra Varner/Varner PR Agency
Programme Design: Marc Pâquette
Interns: Caroline Calderon
Olivia del Barco
Julia Klein
Alyssa Arian
Bettina Bergstrom
Richard Pena-Lopez
Ji Hwan Park
Volunteers: McCrea Clemons, Lisa Cole, William Giddens, Mary Graflin, Alice Paz M. Grimes, Lenora Hamilton, Jolene Larry, May Lazarus, Esther Liss, Jan Lox, Marian Lyons, Alexandra Matthew, George Neumann, Contessa Osborne, Joan Pierson, Clevon Smith, Martha Stein, Lisa White

Mission

The core mission of Lorraine Hansberry Theatre (LHT) is to promote the performing arts. LHT presents plays by America's foremost African-American and multicultural playwrights; provide employment and career-building opportunities for actors, directors, designers, and technicians; and fosters youth development and education through workshops and outreach. LHT distinguishes itself as an eclectic learning community, sustained by both rigor and creativity. LHT draws from aesthetic, cultural and economic resources of the San Francisco Bay Area to enrich and strengthen the performing arts.

Productions

LHT productions reach approximately 20,000 theatre-goers annually, with one of the most eclectic audiences of any theater in the region. LHT has produced more than 120 plays, including west coast and world premieres, experimental works, classics in the African-American canon, lively musicals, and poignant socio-political dramas. LHT’s presentations range from the works of Nobel Laureates Wole Soyinka, Derek Walcott, and Toni Morrison to Pulitzer Prize-winning writers Charles Fuller, Alice Walker and August Wilson; to large-scale musicals celebrating Duke Ellington, Bessie Smith, Lester Young, Fats Waller, Eubie Blake and others; to award winning dramas by James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, and our namesake Lorraine Hansberry; to pioneering experimental theatre artists Adrienne Kennedy, Ntozake Shange and Maria Irene Fornes, and new works by Robert Alexander, Roger Guenveur Smith, David Rousseve Prince Gomolvilas and others.

History

Founded in 1981 by the late Stanley E. Williams, founding Artistic Director, and the late Quentin Easter, founding Executive Director, LHT performed for seven seasons in numerous venues around San Francisco. In 1988, LHT’s first home opened in the Landmark YWCA building at 620 Sutter Street. The tenancy ended at the end of 2007-2008 due to the Academy of Art University’s acquisition of the building and LHT relocated its business office to 777 Jones Street in Nob Hill. In June 2011, LHT announced that the new theatre is at 450 Post Street, in the heart of the Union Square Theatre District. For more info about our new theatre, click here.

Click Here to View Public Recognitions
& Distinguished Awards

Click Here to View Past Productions
of Lorraine Hansberry Theatre

Steven Anthony Jones (Artistic Director)
has worked professionally on stage, television and film for 37 years. Most recently, he was a core company actor at American Conservatory Theatre (A.C.T.), where he acted, directed and taught, and where he has been seen in November, 'Tis a Pity She's a Whore, Blood Knot, The Imaginary Invalid, After the War, Happy End, Gem of the Ocean, Female Transport, Levee James, Waiting for Godot, Yohen, The Three Sisters, The Dazzle, Night and Day, Buried Child, A Christmas Carol (Scrooge and The Ghost of Christmas Present), Celebration and The Room, "Master Harold"...and the boys, The Misanthrope, The Invention of Love, The Threepenny Opera, Tartuffe, Indian Ink, Hecuba, Insurrection: Holding History, Seven Guitars, Othello (title role), Antigone, Miss Evers' Boys, Clara, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Saint Joan, King Lear, Golden Boy, and Feathers. Other local theater credits include Fuente Ovejuna and McTeague (Berkeley Repertory Theatre); As You Like It (San Francisco Shakespeare Festival); The Cherry Orchard, Every Moment, and The Island (Eureka Theatre); Sideman (San Jose Repertory Theatre); and Division Street (Oakland Ensemble Theatre). He originated the role of Private James Wilkie in the original production of A Soldier's Play at the Negro Ensemble Company in New York. His many film and television credits include two seasons of Midnight Caller and a recurring role on the NBC series Trauma. Mr Jones received his early theatre training at Karamu House in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. He is a graduate of Yankton College in South Dakota. Other experience includes the Cleveland Playhouse, Berkeley Rep, San Jose Rep, and San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, among others.

Shirley Howard-Johnson (General Manager)
oversees policies and procedures, cash-flows and systems, and day-to-day operations. In addition to playing a pivotal role in securing our new theatre at 450 Post Street in the Union Square Theatre District, Shirley produced Joyful Noise and Fabulation, she has also increased subscriptions by creating Young Professional Ambassadors and orchestrating our Funders’ Reception; broadened collaboration with regional theatres, A.C.T., Berkeley Rep, Marin Theatre Company, New Conservatory Theatre, and others; international associations French Tuesdays; launched LHT’s ­ImaginARTS™ program in the San Francisco Unified School District; and expanded social media presence with Facebook and Picasa. She is a member of San Francisco Travel and the Union Square Business Improvement District. Shirley’s effectiveness is credited to her breadth of experience in various sectors. She served as Board Chairman of the Social Service and Homeless Prevention Program for the Bay Area American Red Cross, served on the board of directors for the United Way of the Bay Area, was Director of Educational Partnership Summit for the San Francisco Unified School District, Director of the inaugural Third Street Fair in District 10 for the Sojourner Truth Foster Family Service Agency, Inc., Director of the inaugural Eco-Recycling Fair in Chinatown’s Portsmouth Square for The City and County of San Francisco’s Solid Waste Management Program, and Senior Project Manager of Homeless Shelters for The City and County of San Francisco’s Department of Human Services. In luxury fashion for Neiman Marcus, Shirley’s clients included Golden Globe Winner, Bill Cosby, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, and NFL Hall of Famer, Jerry Rice. Shirley began her financial career in banking for Bank of California, Wells Fargo Bank and California Bank & Trust. Passionate for the performing arts, Shirley has lived in Paris, France and has traveled around the world twice.

Marc Pâquette (Director of Audience Development/Webmaster)
has been associated with LHT since 1994. His first credit at LHT was as Props Designer for 2003’s King Hedley II by August Wilson. In 2005 he began work full-time for LHT. He was dramaturg for LHT’s 2006 production of Ntozake Shange’s from okra to greens/ a different kinda love story, and the 2007 production of Stephen Jeffrey’s I Just Stopped By to See The Man. He co-wrote, with André C. Andrée, the script for LHT’s 2007 production of Black Nativity, and also co-wrote, with Stanley E. Williams, the script for 2009s Black Nativity. Last season, he co-wrote, with André C. Andrée, LHT’s box office smash, Joyful Noise. He is currently working on two new scripts, Sex & Drugs & Jazz, a revue of risqué songs from the Harlem Renaissance, as well as The Blue Devil Cabaret Lounge, a jukebox musical loosely based on Goethe’s Faust and Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, with a dash of A Midsummer Night’s Dream thrown in for good measure. Marc holds a BFA in studio art, with a minor in anthropology/sociology, from Plymouth State University, in his native New Hampshire. In his infrequent free time, he collects Lava Lites and other novelty lamps, watches Dotcor Who, and grows his mustache. His mantra is “Check your spam folder daily!”

Brandon Iwata (Director of Finance)
has managed Lorraine Hansberry Theatre’s finance and accounting group since September 2009. Brandon has over 8 years of finance experience with mass media and non-profit compliance. His portfolio ranges from fortune 500 media holdings, venture backed communication groups to full size non-profit organizations. Brandon’s passion and dedication to the accounting profession is echoed in the work he has done for his community whether it’s teaching accounting courses at local universities or providing free counseling at the small business development centers throughout the bay area. Aside from his work with Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Brandon is also a partner and Chief Financial Officer for Lopez-Iwata & Associates; an executive financial accounting and management group.

Jessica Baldwin (Administrative Associate/Donor Development)
has been working at Lorraine Hansberry Theatre since March of 2011. Jessica has over 7 years experience working with non-profit arts organizations as an administrator, educator, and stage manager. In the Bay Area Jessica has stage managed for companies like Atmostheatre, Cutting Ball Theater, Lafayette Town Hall, Killing My Lobster and Beards, Beards, Beards Productions.

About our new theatre:

This beautifully restored theatre first opened in 1982 and was home to many hit shows, but its history goes furthur back.

The building located at 450 Post Street was built in 1924 by the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks in order to accommodate a burgeoning membership. Using the designs of architect Anthony Heinsberger, whose theatrical architecture can also be seen at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland and at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco, the entire 15-story structure was built at a cost $1.5 million dollars. The building is of Spanish-Gothic design and originally contained 100 guest rooms for resident members and visiting Elks. The second floor main Lodge assembly hall was designed to have a seating capacity of 1,000, a projection room, maple stage and theatre pipe organ.

The building remained the home of the Elks until 1981, when it was leased to various partners, creating the hotel, shops, and other spaces. At that time the second floor Lodge hall became the theatre, and was redesigned by architect Gene Angell (who also designed Berkeley Rep's Thrust Stage Theatre, Brava! for Women in the Arts, and the former Lorraine Hansberry Theatre on Sutter Street). The flat-floored assembly hall was transformed into the 729-seat Theatre on the Square, which opened in 1982 with the production Talley's Folly, and was home to many hit shows including Steve Martin's Picasso At The Lapin Agile, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, Forever Tango, Dame Edna: The Royal Tour and most recently, Lily Tomlin in The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe.

When Theatre On The Square vacated the space in 2002, the Nederlander Organization assumed management of the theatre. Working with Gensler Architects, who designed the handsome remodel of A.C.T., minor improvements were made, reducing the seating capacity to 708.

Now, in 2011, The space has been leased by Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. The capacity has been reduced to 400 seats, and the house's acoustics have been greatly enhanced. The new Lorraine Hansberry Theatre opened in October, with two one-act plays, Almost Nothing by Marcos Barbosa and Douglas Turner Ward's Day of Absence.