Antenna Theater
2021: Heart of San Francisco
on October 3rd, the Heart will appear in the sky multiple times over the Golden Gate Bridge. As the sky-written Hearts float over the city and the bay, Antenna will stream video of live events on boats and on the shores, as well as recorded video of performers.
2017, 2019: Heart of San Francisco
Taking place above the Golden Gate Bridge, various landmarks in the Bay Area, and the bay, this production consisted of sky-written Hearts and parades of boats. The Hearts could be viewed from anywhere where the sky above the bridge was visible.
Photo courtesy of Bruce Forrester.
2005-2021: ECOlogical Calendar
A new calendar concept that celebrates the passage of a year, season by season. The ECOlogical Calendar is a mix of artistic interpretation and scientific facts relating to the cycle known as a year. Each edition features four foldout panels showing each flowing season, bundled together with the familiar Gregorian days, dates, weeks, months, and international holidays. Published and distributed by Pomegranate Press.
2007-2021: Antenna added a spiral-bound, engagement version of the ECOlogical calendar. 2008: Launched iPhone edition of the calendar.
2012: On the Edge
An adventurous audio walk along Marin’s Pacific edge to the Point Bonita Lighthouse in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. At posted stops, visitors could use iPhones to hear the history of families who lived here, ship wreck victims, and the light keepers, all before the bridge was built.
2010-2019: Magic Bus
Audiences experienced a 90-minute virtual tour of the 1960s Summer of Love aboard a vintage, transformed passenger bus. The production evoked San Francisco’s past through a mix of oral histories, rock ‘n roll, live actors, and 3-D and video projections while the bus rolled through North Beach, Haight-Ashbury, and Golden Gate Park.
2010: Premiere, San Francisco International Arts Festival (May 28-31)
The production featured from 4 to 11 performances per week.
2008-2009: ECOtime
A series of radio shorts, written and narrated by Chris Hardman, about ecological phenomena that occurred around the date of each broadcast. The pieces were influenced by the ECOlogical Calendar and were recorded to provide an immersive, scientific way to reconnect the listener with the natural world. ECOtime regularly aired on Green 960 AM in the SF Bay Area and some segments were broadcast on Living on Earth, a program of National Public Radio.
2004-2008: Transforming Art
An interactive exhibition featuring sculptural works, anaglyph drawings (3-D), infinite mirrors, slotted sea creatures, furniture, and shadows. Hardman described the production as an experimental funhouse where scientific understanding of perception is manipulated and presented in an artistic context.
2008: Presidio Gallery, San Francisco, CA, extended for six months
2005: Art Works Downtown Gallery, San Rafael, CA
2004: Bay Model Gallery, Sausalito, CA
2007: Big Brother
Inspired by George Orwell’s 1984, this site-specific production gave groups of “audients” soundtracks with differing instructions, causing each participant to experience story segments distinctively. Antenna worked with theater majors at Sonoma State University over two semesters to develop the script and to test a new use of MP3 player technology. The production was commissioned by the University’s Theater Arts Department and was shown at Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA.
1981-2006: High School
Using a high school in the Bay Area, the production was a narrated walk-through of the campus from the perspective of the students. “Audients” were guided through the school, listening to student voices while interacting with student actors and puppets. Each path, sculptural set, and soundtrack were unique to the school. Drama students assisted in creating the production by conducting interviews of their peers and others at the school. The version that premiered in 1981, commissioned by the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, was the first use of Walkman technology by an artist.
2006: Berkeley High School, Berkeley, CA
2004: Galileo High School, San Francisco, CA
2002: Tamalpais High School, Mill Vally, CA
1981: Tamalpais High School, Mill Vally, CA
2006: Fire and Ice
A site-specific dramatization of an overnight tugboat fire and unprecedented ice storm that occurred on the Sausalito waterfront in March, 2006. For the event, the tugboat was anchored off the Army Corps Bay Model Gallery where the pre-recorded audio was broadcast to the shore-bound audience. The soundtrack featured the actual voices of those involved in the real event. Actors and dancers added to the performance, bringing the story to life.
2005: A Body of Water
“Audients” experienced a seaside sculpture garden while listening to an audio drama concerning our relationship to the ocean. The major visual was a giant whale which was slotted together as were the sea flora surrounding it. The production took place at Ocean Beach in San Francisco, CA.
2000-2003: Euphor!um
A walk-through dreamscape of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem, Kubla Khan, featuring digital audio effects, infinite mirrors, and a few Coney Island funhouse tricks.
2002-2003: Presented by SoHo Theatre, Roundhouse, London, England
2001: Invited as guest art work at Burning Man Festival, Black Rock Desert, NV
2000-2002: Premiere, Presidio, San Francisco, CA. Extended runs totaled eight months
1998-2002: Sands of Time
An outdoor interactive public art project that blended science, art, history, and popular culture to examine the meaning of the millennium. Carved into 1,000 yards of beachfront, this performance sculpture was designed to resemble a gigantic Zen garden.
2002: Earth Day Celebration, Santa Monica, CA
1999: Invited as feature artist at Burning Man Festival, Black Rock Desert, NV
1999: Ocean Beach, San Francisco, CA
1998: Rodeo Beach, Sausalito, CA
2000: Artery
“Audients” were transformed into the main character of a noir-like mystery thriller and sent through a 17 room performance maze. An exciting story line and original music propelled participants through this interactive experience.
2000: Vantage Theatre, San Diego, CA
1985: New Theatre, Seattle, WA
1984: Performing Garage, New York, NY
1984: Spoleto Festival, Charleston, SC
1983: Cervantino Festival, Guanajuato and Mexico City, Mexico
1982: The Mill Valley Post Office Annex, Mill Valley, CA
2000: Big Bang
A millennium celebration with fire eaters, stilt walkers, giant puppets, a sound and light show, and a giant performing water clock counting off all 13 billion years of time since the Big Bang. The event took place on the Sausalito waterfront.
1997-1998: Pandemonium
A nighttime outdoor theater adventure in the forests and meadows of the Marin Headlands. The show was an homage to Pan and the metaphysics of Springtime as well as a send-up of the spring wedding season. The production featured audience members in headphones walking through the woods to encounter 35-foot puppets, masked actors, and site-specific lighting effects.
1997- 1998: Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Fort Barry, Sausalito, CA
1997: Star*Light
Loosely based on Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, this performance examined the tension between technology and nature, specifically artificial light and natural light. The production mixed giant puppets, masked actors, shadow shows, and dance with circus performance such as stilt walkers and vertical rope performance. Star*Light was performed in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Fort Barry, Sausalito, CA.
Photo courtesy of David Allen.
1995-1996: Skin & Bones/Flesh & Blood
A site-specific theater performance at a major recycling center which examined physical, political, and metaphysical borders and their impact on the “common citizen”. The production featured a bilingual collage of voices of Marin County residents broadcasted to “audients” through localized FM radio transmission. Actors portrayed newspapers, skeletons, doctors, and various other characters.
1995-1996: The production took place over two autumns at the Marin County Recycling Center in San Rafael, CA.
1988-1995: Etiquette of the Undercaste
An interactive performance installation, this production led visitors through a maze of 13 rooms where participants experienced poverty and powerlessness firsthand. Upon entering the installation, the visitor “died” and was “reborn” into a life characterized from birth by a succession of ever-worsening circumstances, ultimately leading to homelessness.
1995: UCLA Wight Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1992: Experimental Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
1991: Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA
1988: SOMAR Arts Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA
1994: Enola/Alone
An interactive theater maze that put each visitor into the boots of a World War II bomber pilot. The show combined elements from museum exhibits, radio theater, carnival funhouses, and audience participation to create a personal and deeply affecting experience concerning the effects of bombing. The production took place at the Presidio warehouse in San Francisco, CA.
1994: Making Waves
A combination of theater, instillation art, and historical artifacts — photographs, masks, puppets, video, and audio —from Antenna Theater’s performance archive, this exhibition was in honor of Chris Hardman, Artistic Director. The production was commissioned by the Falkirk Cultural Center and commemorated Hardman’s receiving the center’s 4th Annual LifeWork Award. Making Waves took place in the Falkirk Cultural Center in San Rafael, CA.
1993: On Sight in Sausalito
A site-specific performance, the show used the city of Sausalito as its stage. Audience members encountered scenes in private homes, the city hall, local businesses, public parks, and the city’s streets. The production blended Bunraku shadow performance, cubist-constructivist masks, and an interactive radio broadcast to explore the emergence of bohemian lifestyles, art, and philosophies in post-WWII America.
1991-1993: All You Can Eat
A satirical piece of the Bay Area’s history, this production illustrated how man’s greedy appetite has caused imbalance in the environment. All You Can Eat was commissioned by Earth Drama Lab.
1993: California Coastal Cleanup Celebration, Bay Model, Sausalito, CA
1991: Earth Day Celebration, Aquatic Park, San Francisco, CA
1992: The Appearance of Civilization
Developed in response to the Columbus Quincentennial, the play was inspired by 16th century documents, the testimony of Holocaust survivors, Vietnam veterans, and others to draw disturbing parallels between Columbus’ time and our own. The performance took place at night at Rodeo Beach, Golden Gate National Recreation Area in Sausalito, CA.
1991: Caveat Emptor! Buyer Beware!
A multimedia stage play featuring masked actors, an original musical score by Roy Marcom, and a pre-recorded soundtrack, the show was structured into three alternating stories dealing with the historical exploitation of the unsuspecting masses by those who sell the idea of security. The production took place at the Theater Artaud in San Francisco, CA.
1984-1990: Adjusting the Idle
An interactive play that consisted of 17 simultaneous portable stereo events on the subject of the American fascination with the automobile. “Audients” participated in stage events such as convincing a “parent” to let them drive, attending traffic school, and buying a car. The production was commissioned for CARPLAYS by the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art and the Mark Taper Forum.
1990: New Theatre, Seattle, WA
1985: Theater Artaud, San Francisco, CA
1984: Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
1989: The Grid Commissioned for the opening of the Wexner Center for the Visual Arts, this interactive audio tour led each “audient” through the new facility and explained the history of the site and the intent of the Center’s architect, Peter Eisenman, to visitors. The production took place at the Wexner Center at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.
1987-1988: Radio Interference
This show explored the subject of communications through the use of infrared headset receiver technology, live actors, and “audient” interactions with 13 different theater events. The production was developed as an artist-in-residence project at the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
1988: FEMA Warehouse, Fort Baker, Sausalito, CA
1987: Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
1986: The New Season
An experiment in improvisational broadcasting where the audio messages of selected television programs were replaced with an original soundtrack via radio. A collaboration with KPFA, a public radio station, in Berkeley, CA.
1985: Dracula in the Desert
This performance piece told the story of Dracula’s retirement to New Mexico through the usage of 3-D effects, portable stereos, masked actors and dancers, and original music. The production was presented at a warehouse on the Sausalito waterfront.
1985: Russia
A stage play that featured sliding projections, sound effects, masked actors, and audio collages to explore the American perception of the Cold-War Soviet Union.
1985: The Next Wave Festival, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY
1985: Theater Artaud, San Francisco, CA
1985: Fairplay
A series of 25 audio tape events on the subject of San Francisco history and culture. “Audients” rung cable car bells, signed the U.N. Charter, sung with Valentino, shot rats infected with the bubonic plague, and acted as if they were imprisoned on Alcatraz. The production was commissioned for the San Francisco Fair and took place at Fort Mason Pier in San Francisco, CA.
1983-1984: Amnesia
Four different memory paths are taken in random order as each “audient” struggles to regain their sense of self. The interactive sets were created entirely out of highly colored, slotted wooden pieces. Masked actors assisted the “audient” through the swirl of events.
1984: UCLA, Olympic Arts Festival, Los Angeles, CA
1984: YMCA Theater, San Francisco, CA
1983: Bay Area Playwright’s Festival, Mill Valley, CA
1982: Moving Sculptures
Plywood figures of local residents appeared over the course of a few months, following the paths regularly taken by their real life counterparts. The look-alikes could be seen jogging, shopping, or walking their dogs, among other various activities, in five cities in Marin County, CA.
1982: Pink Prom
16 couples in prom dresses and white dinner jackets performed to pre-recorded stereo choreography. The event was commissioned by the Bay Area Playwright’s Festival and took place at Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, CA.
1981-1982: Vacuum
A blend of dance, performance sculpture, taped narrative and original music, this stage play was an inside look into the life of a man who sells emptiness. The production was developed from man-on-the-street interviews about door-to-door salesmen, housewives, and vacuums.1982: Toured five cities in France, Germany, and the Netherlands
1982: Performing Garage, New York City, NY
1981: Herbst Theater, San Francisco, CA
1981: Red Barn, Sausalito, CA
Snake Theater
Snake Theater was an experimental theater founded by Laura Farabough and Chris Hardman in 1972 in Venice, CA. After relocating to San Francisco and then to the Sausalito waterfront in 1977, the two were joined by composer Lary Graber and choreographer Evie Lewis. After 1977, all SNAKE productions were a collaboration of these four artistic directors.
1979: Auto
A location play, Auto was performed at an abandoned Mohawk gas station in Sausalito, CA.
1979: Ride Hard/Die Fast
Ride Hard/Die Fast toured to several European theater festivals in Germany and Italy in early 1980.
1978: 24th Hour Cafe
A part of Snake’s California Series, plays which explored experiences particular to West Coast life and which were performed in locations integral to their purposes, 24th Hour Cafe was performed in the summer in San Francisco and then toured other parts of California. The production was sponsored by the California Arts Council.
1978: Her Building
A part of Snake’s California Series, plays which explored experiences particular to West Coast life and which were performed in locations integral to their purposes, Her Building was presented in the summer in front of Sausalito City Hall.
1978: Somewhere in the Pacific
A part of Snake’s California Series, plays which explored experiences particular to West Coast life and which were performed in locations integral to their purposes, Somewhere in the Pacific was presented in the spring on the beach at Fort Cronkhite in Marin County, CA.