Our theater is an empathy gym where we come to practice our powers of compassion. Here, safe in the dark, we can risk sharing in the lives of the characters. We feel what they feel, fear what they fear, and love what they love. And as we walk through our doors we take with us greater powers of understanding to make our community a better place, one play at a time.
Bill English, Artistic Director
Our theatre is an empathy gym where we come to practice our powers of compassion. Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Ghandi: These are the Olympic athletes of empathy. But the rest of us need to go to the gym. It’s tough to be compassionate in everyday life. We get cut off in traffic, get our purse snatched, get knocked down, our house broken into, our country invaded. It’s tough to be empathetic. But from the darkness and anonymity of our seats, we are safe to risk entering into the lives of the characters on the other side of the proscenium. We feel what they feel, fear what they fear, love what they love, and hope for what they hope for. And along the way, with our one hundred hearts beating together in the dark, we realize that under the skin we are the same. And as we leave, we take that miraculous spirit of unity out into the world to make it better.
What’s playing at San Francisco Playhouse:
San Francisco Playhouse
450 Post St.
San Francisco, CA 94102
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[…] local theater company of which I’m on the board. He is fond of calling the theater an ‘empathy gym.’ I found the poem comforting, and I hope you will be able to relate it to your own […]
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[…] local theater company of which I’m on the board. He is fond of calling the theater an ‘empathy gym.’ I found the poem comforting, and I hope you will be able to relate it to your own […]