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The Marsh is an American theater company that specializes in developing new performance. It is located in the Mission District of San Francisco, California.
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History
The Marsh began as a Monday night performance series at the legendary Hotel Utah, a historic drinking hole formerly frequented by gold miners and Beat poets, in 1989. Competition with Monday Night Football drove The Marsh to Morty’s in North Beach, the famous 1960s hang-out where Lenny Bruce and Sarah Vaughan, among others, used to perform. In 1990, The Marsh moved into the back room of a cafe.
The first staged workshop was Marga Gomez’s "Memory Tricks." Josh Kornbluth’s "Haiku Tunnel" was The Marsh’s first full-length production, and Charlie Varon’s initial solo piece "Honest Prophets" saw its debut there. In December 1992, The Marsh moved to its current location on Valencia Street. In 1996, The Marsh purchased the whole building, gradually developing the 12,000-square-foot (1,100 m2) space into a community arts center. It currently or recently has included two theaters, a comedy club, a cafe, and a youth theater.
In 2004, The Marsh produced the world premiere of Brian Copeland's solo show, "Not a Genuine Black Man." The production ran for two and a half years, making it the longest-running solo show in San Francisco history.