Founder Carole Shorenstein Hays | Founded 1977 | |
SHN (formerly Shorenstein Hays Nederlander Theatres) is a theatrical production company in San Francisco. Under the leadership of commercial Broadway producers Carole Shorenstein Hays and Robert Nederlander, SHN has evolved from its inception in 1977 as a promoter of short engagements of national tours in one theatre to become the pre-eminent theatrical entertainment company in San Francisco presenting a year-round season of plays and musicals. SHN also owns and operates three historic theatres in San Francisco: the Curran, Orpheum and Golden Gate Theatres. SHN also consults on the Broadway series at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas.
For over 30 years, SHN has presented a Broadway series including musicals and plays featuring world premieres, pre-Broadway engagements, limited West Coast-only runs of productions starring the original Broadway casts and national tours.
Notable productions
SHN has hosted the world premieres and pre-Broadway engagements of numerous shows including: Wicked, Mamma Mia!, Baz Luhrman's La Bohème, the 2006 revival of A Chorus Line, Legally Blonde The Musical, and a new musical stage version of Irving Berlin's White Christmas. SHN engagements have kicked off the national tours of Jersey Boys, Spring Awakening, the Lincoln Center revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific, Avenue Q, Edward Scissorhands, and The Light in the Piazza, all immediately following their Broadway runs. SHN has presented the West Coast premieres of Caroline, or Change, I Am My Own Wife, Spamalot, The Color Purple, and the Pulitzer Prize winning play August: Osage County.
Blockbuster hit shows that spawn multiple companies in addition to their touring versions frequently establish West Coast sit-down engagements in San Francisco. Wicked returned to San Francisco playing a two-year run, Jersey Boys, The Lion King, and Les Misérables each played for over a year, while The Phantom of the Opera broke records with an unsurpassed five-year run.