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Founded in the 1960s, San Francisco’s most important theater company is internationally respected and has produced premieres of a number of major plays. At the heart of ACT is one of the most acclaimed actor-training institutions in the nation – former students include Denzel Washington, Annette Bening, and Winona Ryder.

High camp and high headdresses, along with jolly good singing by the veteran ensemble cast make this one of the joys of the city. It’s been zinging the heartstrings of lovers of San Francisco for more than a quarter of a century and shows no signs of flagging. The excuse for all this frivolity is the sending up of various notables, most of whom well deserve the good-natured ribbing.

Built in 1922, this is one of the grandest theaters in the city and a Registered National Historic Landmark. The interior is a fantasy of gold and carved wood, complemented by a vast chandelier and murals. Shows tend toward long-running Broadway successes such as Les Misérables .

This former movie house, designed with Moorish influences in the 1920s, is one of the larger mainstream theaters. Its usual offerings are traveling Broadway shows – most recently, hits imported from New York have included a revival of Damn Yankees , starring Jerry Lewis.

The smallest of the mainstream houses offers a mix of cabaret, comedy, dance, lectures, and concerts. It’s really just a recital hall, and the acoustics are not great, but the beautiful 1930s building is decorated with eight enormous Beaux-Arts murals that were executed for the 1915 Pan-Pacific Exposition.

In the 1970s, none other than Sam Shepard was the resident playwright of the Magic, and its stage has seen performances by the likes of Sean Penn and Nick Nolte. It specializes in bringing new plays to light, usually by up-and-coming Americans. It also offers “raw play” readings of as yet unstaged works.

Originally a Masonic Temple, built in 1957, this attractive structure, with its 3,000-seat auditorium, is used as a venue for jazz performances, lectures, and readings, as well as conventions and seminars. Mosaics inside and out depict some of the tenets of Freemasonry.