National Register #75000472
Geary Theater
415 Geary Street Between Mason and Taylor
Downtown
Built 1910
The Geary Theater was designed by Walter D. Bliss and William B. Faville.
Construction began in 1908 and the building opened in 1910 as the Columbia Theatre. Among those
who played the Columbia were Sarah Bernhardt and Isadora Duncan. The theater went through several name
changes becoming the Wilkes Theater, the Lurie Theater and finally the Geary Theater in 1928.
For the next forty years, all the major players of the American stage performed here:
George Arliss, Edward G. Robinson, Basil Rathbone, Frederic March, Ethel Barrymore, Ina Claire, Paul Muni,
Ethel Waters, Boris Karloff, Paul Robeson, Alfred Lunt, Lynne Fontanne, Katherine Cornell,
Cornelia Otis Skinner, and Judith Anderson.
In January 1967, the Geary Theater became the home of the American Conservatory Theater, under the
direction of William Ball. In the 1967-1968 season, Mr Ball presented an astounding two dozen
productions including Hamlet, Long Day's Journey into Night, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Misanthrope,
Tartuffe, Tiny Alice, Endgame, and The Crucible.
Fifteen years later on October 17, 1989, the Loma Prieta Earthquake caused major damage to the
theater less than two hours before an evening performance. The proscenium arch collapsed, ripping a
huge hole in the ceiling and crushing the lighting bridge and the first six rows of orchestra seats
beneath tons of fallen plaster, but no one was injured.
ACT raised over $28.5 million for renovation, seismic stabilization and technology upgrades.
The restored theater has retained its original character both inside and out, and is among the
finest in the country. And ACT, under the direction of Cary Perloff, has been consistently
delivering the goods on stage.
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