Performance is integral to the Creative Writing program, as it is to the overall curriculum at School of the Arts. The department schedules three events a year for SOTA stages, often occurring over two nights in two venues.  Students have also appeared at the Marsh Theater, at Michelle Tea's "Radar Reading," and at awards ceremonies of the Bay Area Travel Writers, Youth Arts Festival, and Sacramento Poetry Center -- to name but a few.  They also perform regularly in bookstores, cafes, and schools throughout San Francisco.

See our News and Calendar page for a schedule of performances in the current school year.  And keep watching the Gallery as we add more photographs and video of past CW events.

A Look at Past Performances

The 2007-2008 school year again saw Creative Writing give "bonus" performances in its January and April event slots.  Of note: the annual Poetry Café, organized and run entirely by the CW seniors, had as its second venue an actual café -- The Greenhouse Café, in San Francisco's West Portal district.  In both the fall "Ghostwriters" and winter "Café Oklahoma," the department was privileged again to have Nik Robolino, from SOTA's Theater Tech discipline, step forward with striking light and stage design.  Check out the 2007-08 Archive News and Calendar page for further notes on performances and events.

In 2006-2007, Creative Writing had three major performances.  Two were actually two-night affairs, with the venues split between the SOTA campus and Intersection for the Arts, a multi-purpose arts organization and performance space on Valencia Street.  The fall performance on October 13 was titled "Despot Roller Disco;"  the annual Poetry Café was "Bad Poetry? Oh Noetry!" at SOTA (January 12) and "National Popcorn Day" at Intersection (January 19); and the two nights of scenes from the playwriting unit were titled "The Nights of Inflection," and played April 13 (SOTA) and April 14 (Intersection.)   Descriptions of these events can be found in the "Major Performances" section of the 2006-07 Archive News and Calendar page. 

Creative Writing had three shows on campus in the 2005 - 2006 school year.  On the SOTA Mainstage, "Factory Night" showed on October 14, and "D is for Dahl" on January 13.  The Drama Studio stage saw two nights of "Metro" on February 24 and 25 (different material each night.)  See the "Major Performances" section of the 2006-06 Archive News and Calendar page for descriptions of these performances.

In the previous year (2004 - 2005), CW's first show came on October 15.  “Strange Encounters,” directed by Tony Bravo, featured mixed fare: students read short fiction, poetry, and drama, while segments of old films were projected on the screen behind them.

On January 21, also under the direction of Bravo, the department presented “Poet Poet Revolution Extreme.” Students conceived and wrote this extended riff on Shelley’s claim that “Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.” Was it a poetry reading interrupted by a five-act play? Or an ironic, adventurous play leavened with exquisite poetry? Or was it really all about the opening short film by three CW seniors?

Finally, on May 13-14, CW presented “Search and Deploy: A View Through the Eyes of U.S. War Vets.”  The two nights actually saw two different plays, both of them guided by playwright-in-residence Patty Cachapero and directed by SOTA principal Donn Harris. The plays grew out of interviews students conducted with veterans of four wars (World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq) and with conscientious objectors and military recruiters.