Our History

Left Coast Theatre Co. (LCTC) was founded in the spring of 2012 by Rodney Taylor and Joseph Frank to encourage local LGBTQ+ playwrights, to develop new works with LGBTQ+ themes, and to present them to Bay Area audiences. They chose an anthology format, producing evenings of six to seven short one-act plays, because it allowed them to showcase the work of a larger number of playwrights and provided more opportunities for fledgling directors. In addition, they established an ongoing playwriting workshop to provide a safe space for both new and experienced writers to hear their words read aloud, to receive feedback, and to request help on how to proceed. Essentially, they created a supportive training ground for writers, directors and actors.

In the ensuing decade, Left Coast has continued their original mission and have done it well. In 2015, the company’s fifth-ever production, #WTFamily, won the TBA Award for Best Anthology. In fact, #WTFamily is only one of four LCTC productions to be nominated for this award in three consecutive years.

Always striving to advance artistically, we took a major step forward in 2016 with San Francisco, Here I Come!, our first anthology developed entirely in house with a through-line. This show told the story of San Francisco from 1949 to an imagined 2018 through the occupants of a single apartment, and its more sophisticated material increased the company’s standing in the community.

While presenting further anthologies, we began preparing our next big project – a new full-length work with a team of collaborating Left Coast writers. The product was Come Here Often?, another look at San Francisco history, this time set in a mythical gay bar in the Castro in 1977, 1998 and 2018. This too was a highly successful production, proving that new and innovative work about San Francisco is craved by our audiences.

Between the years of 2017 and 2019, Left Coast experimented with a three show season, with each season including two original anthology shows and one full length off-off Broadway show. These known titles included The Laramie Project, Dog Sees God, and The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told. Producing these plays helped Left Coast gain some recognition in the community, attracting and introducing actors, designers and directors to who we were. 

Left Coast maintained our continuity and visibility during the COVID pandemic through social media engagement and, when possible, staged readings of plays we would eventually include in future productions and came back strong in 2023 with Between the Sheets in the late winter, and Queerstory in the summer. Queerstory, a show that told the stories of forgotten queer figures throughout history, would prove to be another highly successful show, and one that proves once again that our audiences desire content they haven’t seen before.

Since its beginning Left Coast Theatre Co. has produced 14 original anthology shows, 3 off-off-Broadway plays, and 7 staged readings. This includes the participation of roughly 75 original short plays from local, national and international queer and allied playwrights; about 35 different directors who worked on one to three plays per show; over 100 local Bay Area actors who played multiple roles; and almost 30 local stage managers and designers. We are proud of these accomplishments, and to be the theater company that gives queer and allied artists a place to experiment and play.