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The Brava Theater Center is a 13,000 foot multi-purpose performance venue with a Main Theater that seats 364, a Studio Theater that seats up to 100, and an upcoming addition of a street side Cabaret.
In 1994, Brava! for Women in the Arts purchased the historic York Theater. It was originally a 1926 vaudeville house turned movie art house that had been a central element of the neighborhood's economy until it was vacated and remained unused for many years.
HISTORY OF THE BUILDING The original Roosevelt Theater was built by the Reid Bros. – James and Merritt Reid. The Reid brothers began as architects in the Midwest in the latter part of the 19th Century, designing homes and public building. They were commissar for several public libraries financed by Andrew Carnegie. The Reids also were commissioned to build the extraordinary Hotel Del Coronado near San Diego (which was featured in the film, “Some Like it Hot”. After the success of the Hotel Del Coronado, the Reid brothers relocated their operations to San Francisco. The Reids built some very notable buildings that withstood the 1906 earthquake. The buildings would include the famous Fairmont Hotel on California street, The Call building (the large downtown domed skyscraper that is the signature in most San Francisco photos), the Music Pavilion in Golden Gate Park (nestled between the DeYoung Museum and the Academy of Sciences), and the present Cliff House. Throughout the teens, twenties and thirties, the Reid brothers became the greater Bay Area’s most prolific designers of vaudeville and movie theaters. Here is a list of those still standing (although they may not operate as theatrical venues currently): The Sequoia in Mill Valley, the Orpheus (now known as the Rafael) in San Rafael, and the Sebastiani in Sonoma. The Alexandria, the Coliseum, the Balboa, the Avenue, the Roosevelt (now BRAVA), the Metropolitan, the Amazon, the Riviera, the Oaks, the Fairfax/Grand Lake (Oakland), the Broadway (now the Encore) in Burlingame, the Varsity (Palo Alto), the Strand (Gilroy) and the Golden State are just SOME of the projects the Reid Brothers accomplished in the Bay Area.  Brava! for Women in the Arts has presented hundreds of theatrical, music, dance company as well many not-for-profit organized activities with other non-profit organizations. Some of the presentations to have taken place at The Brava Theater Center have been San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, dance troupe Sins Invalid, Purple Moon, Dancing Tree, International Latino Film Festival, Queer Queens of Comedy, Sippy Cups, Tegan and Sara, and Woody Simmons concert. BTC has also housed fundraisers for non-profits such as Carecen and Galeria de la Raza. Though Brava Theater Center is in its final stages of building its third performance space, in the interim, BTC has continued to present art exhibitions, films and parties in its raw unfinished space. Construction of BTC’s third space will be finished by the end of 2008. For more information about the Brava Theater Center, please go our Facilities/Rental section of this website.
What is up with the Mural in the Lobby?!  During the renovation of the York Theater, contractors came across an extraordinary mural in the lobby of the theater. Shortly after the Second World War, entrepreneur Ben Levin purchased the Roosevelt and changed its name to ‘York 24’. Mr. Levin commissioned the Tony Heisbergen’s Company out of Los Angeles to create the mural in BRAVA’s lobby. Ben Levin (being a trendy fellow) covered up the mural as designs of that type went out fashion. Mr. Levin has the mural covered up with flex wood (an art deco vertical wood grain). It was lost until discovered during the renovation of the York into Brava Theater Center in 1996. |
