Bay Area Theater Companies Stage Productions in Unusual Places, Including a Mint - NYTimes.com

Bay Area Theater Companies Stage Productions in Unusual Places, Including a Mint - NYTimes.com: Bay Area performers taking theater out of theaters is nothing new, of course — in the late ’60s and ’70s, thanks to influential countercultural groups like the Diggers and the S.F. Mime Troupe, there was an explosion of experimental work.

But with a stagnant economy and a decline nationally in audiences for traditional dance and theater, there is renewed interest in performances outside darkened black- box theaters. Unusual spaces are also popular with patrons of the arts, who give grants for “creative place-making” — art that can reach broad audiences and help revitalize downtrodden neighborhoods like the Mid-Market area in San Francisco.