The oldest street in the Bay Area once connected downtown San Francisco with Mission Dolores. It later became the beginning of El Camino and stretched the entire state. Today these streets are known as 16th St and Mission St. and they still call audiences from afar to hear their stories. These days successful festivals all wish to be a part of the magic of the Mission, and these 30 venues can all be found just a few blocks from these streets and their easy transit access. 
Many churches host programs in their soaring soul inspired spaces. Parks like Dolores Park and Potrero del Sol often host performances too, and let's not forget the stages at street festivals like Carnaval.
The two greatest Mission Street venues remain on the bubble for this decade, much as they have for the nineties, the Armory and the New Mission theatre (which has been bought by a new developer with plans to turn it into an entertainment complex) . Also of great interest is the expansion of ODC into their much greater space in 2005, as well as the future of what was once the Mission's most famous theatre, Artaud.

If you're wondering what you can find at these theatres, our Film Festival Directory is a great place to start. Find descriptions and links to over 35 annual Bay Area film festivals. Almost all the multiple venue festivals have taken advantage of the excellent availability and transit access for film facilities and events in the Mission as well as our adjoining neighborhoods like SOMA's 9th Street and the premier venue, the Castro theatre, just a few blocks away.

And if you enjoy attending these theatres, you may wish to consider donating to the San Francisco Nieghborhood Theatre Foundation. Accomplishments in 2004-2005 included working with local preservation groups to gain local landmark status for the New Mission Theatre and presenting the Film Night in the Park outdoor film series in San Francisco, attracting over 10,000 people to films in Washington Sq, Dolores Park and Union Square. Here is their list of neighborhood theatres in San Francisco.

"Outside of downtown, not a single first-run theater exists in the entire eastern (or southern!) half of San Francisco. Only a dozen neighborhood theaters remain in San Francisco and most of these theaters are clustered in a few neighborhoods." Mission District theatres by mistersf.com
Photos of 4 Golden Age of the Market Street theatres by sfchangehappens-books.com

Armory 
1800 Mission 
Possibly the largest entertainment venue in the Mission

Site of one of the more memorable dot.com dot.gone battles in 2000. The Armory has been empty for decades. Consisting of 52 classrooms on Mission Street, a large gym suitable for college games and two huge floors underground which are often filled with water. Bob Kruezberger, local Mission historian, is frustrated that no would be developers ever discuss the Armory's history as a surgeon's college pre -UCSF. This structure, a historic landmark, is one of the most challenging development projects in the Bay Area. 
The redevelopment of the 1914 brick structure at 1800 Mission St. has frustrated many over the years. David Bracker, the executive director of Arriba Juntos, a job-training program for low-income residents located next door to the Armory left the Mission in 2000 partly due to his frustration with those who rather keep it empty in the name of neighborhood preservation.  more by sfbg.com

Abada Capoeira Brazilian Arts Center
ACSF offers professional instruction and performance of capoeira at its Mission-based Brazilian Arts Center, and at over 30 sites throughout the Bay Area.
3221 22nd Street @ Mission San Francisco, CA 94110
phone: 415-206-0650 website: http://www.abada.org

In the polyglot tradition of Jewish culture, ATJT speaks many languages. It speaks poetry and it speaks story. It speaks secular Yiddish humanism and ecstatic mysticism. It speaks world history and women's wisdom. It speaks jazz and sacred chant. It speaks Jewish and it speaks American.

Brava

In 1996, BRAVA, with support from SF Redevelopment and  the 24th Street Revitalization Committee chaired by then Supervisor Susan Leal, Brava, led by founder/ex. director Ellen Gavin, purchased the historic York Theatre last used as an art movie house but which had been closed for several years because it could not afford to fix its heater.   The project still has the potential to become an anchor in the revitalization of 24th Street. 

old Roosevelt Theatre
a 1926 former vaudeville house

Community Music Center

Renovated in 1985, the auditorium is wheelchair accessible and opens onto the courtyard of an Italianate Victorian house dating back to the 1880s. In 1990, a booth for recording of live performances was installed in the hall's balcony. The auditorium seats roughly ninety. and is 32' x 34' (1088 square feet)

 

MORE THAN 50 WEEKLY CLASSES
Theatre may be rented for Fri, Sat Sun shows it features 30 ft. ceilings risers for 120 seats in an 1800 square foot room

Dark Room Theatre
2263 Mission Street. SF, CA 94110...Call 415-401-7987 for info.
Theatre, performance, music, art and comedy

 

Everett has a very nice wide auditorium with elegant entry on the J-Church metro, plush seating and good sight lines

Galeria de la Raza
2857 24th Street at Bryant
phone: 415-826-8009
An interdisciplinary Chicano/Latino space for art, thought & activism.

Large auditorium on 23rd Street near Bartlett that is most often used by the community for meeting of several hundred 

Kelly's Mission Rock
Hosts catered events, private parties and special night club events. There are two floors, four fully stocked bars and plenty of parking.
817 Terry Francois @  Mission San Francisco, CA 94158
phone: 415-626-5355

The Marsh located in San Francisco on Valencia Street is a hot bed for the best of local theater including solo performance and original plays. "a breeding ground for new performance". Three spaces, theatre, dance and cafe

Mission High School

Mission High School is ideally situated in the Mission District across the street from Dolores Park, a beautifully maintained urban open space.  Mission High boasts a 2,000 person auditorium, a dance studio, theater space, numerous classrooms for workshops, and more.  

Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts MCCLA

Theater with over 120 seats, large gallery area, 3 dance studios

Mission Neighborhood Centers Inc. (MNC) search google

365 Capp Street & 8 other locations south of Market Street 
Small auditoriums with stages at 365 Capp (near 18th St) and Precita Youth Center 
534 Precita Avenue in Bernal Heights

	producers of Carnaval SF, the greatest multicultural show ever celebrated and the pride of the Mission carnavalsf.com

After a battle with preservationists, San Francisco Community College District (ccsf.edu) sold the building to developer Gus Murad & Associates in late 2003. 

The historically significant portions of the 1916 art deco theater, located on the 2500 block of Mission Street, are scheduled to remain intact under plans to transform the vacant space into a venue for dancing, live music, movies and dining. Next door, 95 housing units are planned in an eight-story development, the second piece of the project designed to help pay for the theater’s restoration. Construction, if approved by the City's Planning Commission, should begin in either 2008 or 2009.  In keeping with the theater’s earlier uses, some hope plans will include screenings of 35 millimeter films there, although the latest proposal only includes digital movies.
Source: New Mission to have new use by Melanie Carroll for examiner.com

The  landmark status achieved by the preservationists for the New Mission Theater will affect plans for the theatre, as will the building which shares its lot, the largest retail building in the mission known by its equally large marquee in front "Giant Value." 

Follow this story here or begin with the first chapter by George Cothran in Sept 16, 1998 issue of SF Weekly 

ODC was the first modern dance company in America to build its own home facility in 1979, from which it operates the ODC School, the ODC Theater, and the ODC Gallery. In September 2005, ODC opened its new 23,000 square foot performing arts center, the ODC Dance Commons, increasing its studio and performing space to 33,000 square feet. Through their various programs ODC strives to inspire audiences, cultivate artists, engage community, and foster diversity and inclusion through dance performance, training, and mentorship. There are plans to create five additional studios, the largest of which will measure 54 by 60 feet, with ceiling heights of 25 feet. five large studios, lockers, showers, a "Healthy Dancers" clinic, a community lounge, a pilates center, gallery spaces, and more.

In March 2006, the Rhythm and Motion Dance Center, with its global dance and dance workout programs, to the ODC Dance Commons.

Roxie Film Center   www.roxie.com/
3117 16th Street, San Francisco (415)863-1087  
300-seat main auditorium and upcoming 60 seat 2nd theatre next door The only regularly operating movie theatre in the Mission District is  San Francisco's oldest operating movie house. Opened in 1913 as The Poppy, then The Rex and finally The Roxie. Since 1976 the venue has served as a screening room for cult, classic, independent underground feature films. documentaries and offbeat repertory programming.  

Since 1984 Bill Banning, has been the CEO  of both the theatre and film distribution company.Roxie Releasing was born in 1985 and is always looking for something great overlooked by the big boys. Among its notable successes are  KURT AND COURTNEY (complete with lawsuit threats from Courtney Love) and VINCENT, a documentary on painter Vincent Van Gogh, In April 2002 the showing of the Last Picture Show announced as a fundraiser to prevent eviction but a long running hit did the trick much better. Still other challenges remain such as the possibility of competition from a theatre showing similar fare at the Presidio possibly operated Sundance Films and maybe the SF film festival and (Robert Redford has a home in Tiburon).

In late 2005, the Roxie Cinema was acquired by New College of California and renamed Roxie Film Center. In addition to continuing its operations as an innovative cinema, the Roxie now doubles as a classroom for New College's Media Studies Department, as well as a place to hold special events. Through the relationship with New College, the Roxie is evolving into an educational institution for film-lovers and the film business, and will help perpetuate the future of independent film by nurturing film students. The theater's long-time programmer, Bill Banning, continues as artistic director 

Shotwell Studios
Shotwell studios is a community-based rehearsal, class and performance space provided by Footloose at low cost to teachers and artists in the performing arts. It is located in the Mission near Valencia St., making it accessible to one of the most thriving are communities on the west coast. For more information: 415-920-2223 (shown by appointment only)

Located at: 3252-A 19th Street in San Francisco at the corner of Shotwell between South Van Ness and Folsom [map]

SOMA Cultural Center

map 
934 Brannan St. (between 8th and 9th) San Francisco, CA 94103
phone: 415.552.2131 & 415.552.7709

SomArts is a multicultural center with gallery, theatre and art studio spaces. Classes, space, special equipment or professional planning 
High ceiling and warehouse like space allow for shows requiring significant installation time

Theatre Rhinoceros is the nation's longest-running and most acclaimed lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender theater company.  Five Mainstage per year productions explore issues and social concerns from the perspectives of sexual orientation, gender, class, ethnicity, age, disability and culture. There's also a Studio Theatre

Timkin Hall - California College of Arts
1111 Eighth Street
(415) 703-9500
 

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252 Ninth St. (Ninth @ Folsom)San Francisco, CA 94103
phone: 415.626.2169info/reservations: 415.289.2000

Footloose produces new and original work with emphasis on emerging artists  The company also often co-produces making its affordable, rental facility (Venue 9) and a rehearsal, class and low-tech performance space (Shotwell Studios) available for the entire arts community.