I spent more than two decades as the Founding Artistic Director of Brava! for Women in the Arts/Brava Theater Center in San Francisco,
It’s difficult to match the happiness I felt looking out so many nights from a perfectly designed stage to a sea of beautiful diverse faces, the satisfaction at the end of the evening when friends and strangers alike were touched by a great performance.
My greatest joy is that BRAVA lives on, now approaching its fourth decade.
The Brava Youth Programs created during my tenure were some of the first to engage LGBTQ young people (DramaDIVAS) to offer a counterpoint to gangs and joblessness (Teatro Armonia) and to empower girls with technical theater training (SF Running Crew). I recall the exhaustive work, the nonstop stress of running a nonprofit, but also an overwhelming sense of community and fellowship.
producing hundreds of theater and music events to an eclectic audience of hundreds of thousands of people. I raised over $8 million to buy and refurbish the old York Theatre in the Mission District, with a renovation that won numerous design and architecture awards. I produced many world and West Coast premieres by some of our most vibrant playwrights, always with an eye to the feminist, the culturally diverse, the provocative.
