Z Space empowers artistic risk, collaboration, and camaraderie amongst artists, audience, and community in the service of creating, developing, and presenting new work. Operating out of an old can factory in the Mission District of San Francisco, Z Space now activates two performance spaces, an 85-seat black box and a 244-seat main stage, with a warehouse aesthetic and an adventurous edge.
Eschewing traditional theater models with fixed seasons and a singular artistic vision, Z Space strives to embrace a multitude of artistic voices through a variety of programs and partnerships. We meet the needs of our communities by providing co-productions and subsidized space, hosting open “salons” to have conversations about the issues facing the broader community, and ensuring that all of our venues and facilities are welcoming and accessible. Some of our regular partners have been: Word for Word (the resident theater company of Z Space since our founding in 1993), piece by piece productions, Youth Speaks, Sean Dorsey Dance, Fresh Meat Festival, 3 Girls Theatre, AXIS Dance, Chitresh Das, and Misfits Cabaret.
Annually, we reach approximately 22,000 audience members, 700 youth and children through Youth Arts (the vast majority are low-income, English Language Learners), and approximately 50 small and mid-size arts organizations.
In addition to being home to local and international artists and organizations, Z Space develops and produces its own new work. Over the past few years, Z Space has built a national reputation for developing and producing large-scale new works that reimagine the traditional “musical theater” form, receiving critical acclaim for Hundred Days (The Bengsons), The Lucky Ones (The Bengsons), and Weightless (The Kilbanes).