In May, when Ty Mckenzie announced plans to vacate Mission District black box theater Stage Werx, the Bay Area could have lost yet another performance venue in a year pockmarked with closures. With退出剧院leaving its Eddy Street space last December andPianoFightmounting its last show in March, the city’s tiny indie theater companies were already scrambling to find surviving spaces for their work.
But on Wednesday, Sept. 20, the small company Dreams on the Rocks Productions announced that it will take over Stage Werx’s lease at 446 Valencia St. in November and rename the space the Eclectic Box.
In addition to producing its own work — past shows have included spoofs or adaptations of “Flash Gordon,” “The Twilight Zone” and “Edward Scissorhands” — Dreams on the Rocks plans to host many other performance groups that had previously called PianoFight and the Exit home. Among them areKilling My Lobster,Awesome Theatre,Drunk Theatre and theSF Neo-Futurists(a troupe that also intends to use447 Minnafor many performances).
Dreams on the Rocks co-founders Dani Spinks and Joe Waterman, who have previously produced at Stage Werx, know their success is far from certain. Some local companies without their own dedicated venues —TheatreFirstandBay Area Children’s Theatre— have also closed this year. And Mckenzie, in an email to the Chronicle, described financial issues that are far from unique to Stage Werx.
“No amount of overworked and underpaid could make the ends meet financially,” she said. “The pain of seeing a fantastic show with a small audience hurts.”
But even if their company faces tough odds, Waterman said, they have to try. “This whole thing honestly just landed in our laps. How could we say no?”
Spinks chimed in: “I’m never going to get an opportunity like this again,” adding, “I’m an Aries: When I decide I’m going to do something, I just do it. It’s green lights all the way.”
In the Stage Werx site, she saw a number of important attributes coming together. It’s already equipped as a theater, with a landlord who wants to keep it that way, and it’s close to the 16th Street BART Station. Her first show in the new space, following a brief, crowdfunded renovation, is “A Nightmare on Elm St. Holiday Special,” which is scheduled to run Dec. 6-16 and will likely make lively use of Spinks’ expertise as a special-effects makeup artist.
Stage Werx, which hosted everything from improv to film screenings to standup comedy, might be best known for Solo Sundays, a series piloted by Bruce Pachtman that’s featured Marga Gomez, Echo Brown and others.
At Eclectic Box, Spinks and Waterman plan to adopt the PianoFight model of having early and late showtimes nightly, which means sets will have to load in and load out quickly. For one future tenant, Killing My Lobster Executive Director Emma McCool, that’s a feature, not a bug. At PianoFight, she said, “artists could meet each other and watch each other’s projects all night long. Having a hub for that indie theater scene was so important for our audience-building.”
Earlier this month, Killing My Lobster announced plans to “pause” the rest of its 2023 season. It cited COVID cases that forced performance cancellations and the ongoing difficulties of complying with AB5, the so-called gig work bill that requires paying more workers as employees. Attracting audiences without a home venue was also a factor, so having a new home starting in 2024 promises a fresh start.
For Pachtman, who plans to concentrate on teaching at the Marsh after Solo Sundays’ last performances on Thursday, Sept. 21, and Sept. 28, the upshot is clear.
“I’m glad somebody’s taking over the space,” he said. “The idea of that place becoming condos would be like a stake in the heart.”
Reach Lily Janiak:ljaniak@sfchronicle.com