Author Archives: Bill English

Bill English Bill English is Artistic Director and Co-Founder of San Francisco Playhouse, and in twenty years with Susi Damilano, has guided its growth from a bare-bones storefront to the second-largest theater in San Francisco.

The Glass Menagerie – A Note from the Artistic Director

The Glass Menagerie – A Note from the Artistic Director

A high school junior who had played a supporting role in one musical but hadn’t really cared much about the experience was waiting for a bus when...

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The 39 Steps: A Note from the Artistic Director

The 39 Steps: A Note from the Artistic Director

Bill English, Artistic Director From the back seat of my parents’ Country Squire station wagon at the local drive-in theatre, I watched Cary...

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My Home on the Moon – A note from the Artistic Director

My Home on the Moon – A note from the Artistic Director

In many ways, the world premieres we produce on our mainstage make us the most excited. They are about taking risks, pushing envelopes of what...

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Guys and Dolls: A Note from the Artistic Director

Guys and Dolls: A Note from the Artistic Director

Despite our deepening understanding of the subtleties and nuances of human behavior, despite a growing intellectual consensus that good and evil are...

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Nollywood Dreams: A note from the Artistic Director

Nollywood Dreams: A note from the Artistic Director

I stumbled onto the script of Nollywood Dreams in the Drama Book Shop in New York where all theatre fans must go when visiting. I read it quickly and...

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A Chorus Line: A Note from the Artistic Director

A Chorus Line: A Note from the Artistic Director

A Chorus Line was the first Pulitzer-winning musical developed in the non-profit world. It opened at the Public Theater on April 15, 1975, and almost...

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Clue: A Note from the Artistic Director

Clue: A Note from the Artistic Director

In the 1950s, during the depths of the House Un-American Committee’s evils, with Joseph McCarthy’s anti-communist campaign raging out of control,...

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Cashed Out: A Note from the Artistic Director

Cashed Out: A Note from the Artistic Director

Cashed Out, a San Francisco Playhouse commission and world premiere, was a rare happy result of the pandemic. Relegated to serving our patrons...

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As You Like It: A Note from the Artistic Director

As You Like It: A Note from the Artistic Director

A liberal, tolerant government is overthrown. The revolutionary is the ultraconservative younger brother of the progressive leader who has opened a...

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Indecent | A Note from the Artistic Director

Indecent | A Note from the Artistic Director

We were lucky enough to be on hand when Paula Vogel’s Indecent opened on Broadway five years ago, and being huge fans of hers already, and...

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