DIRECTOR’S NOTE from Seth Eisen for the streaming video release:

We are brimming with excitement to invite you into the streaming video experience of OUT of Site: Haight-Ashbury that premiered in person in June 2021 during the COVID19 pandemic.

We were blown away by the hoards of people who showed up to witness this incredible site-responsive extravaganza- written by Michelle Carter and nimbly performed by Tina D’Elia. For the live and in person show, audience members wore radio headsets during the tour to experience the show with live audio, music and sound effects all while maintaining a safe distance from other guests. We’ve worked to bring that sonic experience to this video. For example, during the transition between our first tour location on Haight Street and the final location in Golden Gate Park, audiences listened on their headsets to the stories of the 14 people I, (Seth Eisen), interviewed in the making of the show. These are the voices of some of the people who lived and worked in the Haight in the 1960s and 70s. We’ve done our best to give you a sampling of those interviews while virtually traveling through the Haight neighborhood. Please read on to learn more about the histories we delved into and how this project was developed.

The run time for the streaming video is about 1hr 8 minutes.

CAST & CREW BIOGRAPHIES

QUEER ELDERS & ANCESTORS

This is not a complete list of the many, queer, leftist organizers, activists, and artists who made up San Francisco’s gay and hippie scenes. This is just a sampling of these elders and ancestors who were influential to the movement and to the production and not meant as a comprehensive list.

IMPORTANT QUEER MOMENTS

QUEER SITES OF HAIGHT ASHBURY

IMPORTANT LGBTQ+ ORGANIZATIONS
with connections to The Haight

SUGGESTED READING & FILMS

• The Cockettes: Acid Drag & Sexual Anarchy, 1969-1972 by Fayette Hauser

• Wide Open Town by Nan Alamilla Boyd (2003)

• Smash the Church, Smash the State: The Early Years of Gay Liberation edited by Tommi Avicolli Mecca (2009)

• Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions by Larry Mitchell (1977)

• Witchcraft and the Gay Counterculture by Arthur Evans (1978)

• The Circle of Sex by Gavin Arthur (1962)

• I Ran Into Some Trouble by Maggie Falcon and Peggy Caserta (2018)

• Flower Power Man by Eloise Harris, Jayne Anne Harris, and Mary Lou Harris (2017)

• The San Francisco LGBT Historic Context Statement compiled by Shayne Watson and Donna Graves (2016)

• Gay by the Bay: A History of Queer Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area by Jim Van Buskirk and Susan Stryker (1996)

• Fairyland by Alysia Abbott (2013)

• Faggots and Class Struggle published by Morning Due Collective (1976)

• Gay Sunshine Journal published by Gay Sunshine Press (1970-1981)

• The Cockettes (2002) dir. David Weissman, Bill Weber

• Pickup’s Tricks (1973) dir. Gregory Pickup

• Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria (2005) dir. Victor Silverman, Susan Stryker

• Word is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives (1977) dir. The Mariposa Film Group
  

MUSIC CREDITS

The Beatles - Paperback Writer (1966)

The Birds- Stranger in a Strange Land (1965)

Buff Organization- Upside Down World (1967)

Bootsy’s Rubber Band - I’d Rather Be With You (1976)

Buena Vista - He’s a Rebel (1978)

Big Brother & the Holding Company and Janis Joplin - Bye Bye Baby (1967)

The Doors - Light My Fire (1967)

Dungen - Trollkarlen och fågeldräkten (2016)

Etta James - I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (1997)

Etta James - Tell Mama (1968)

George Gershwin - Stairway to Paradise (1922)

Grateful Dead - Friend of the Devil (1970)

Harry Nilsson - I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City (1969)

The Highwaymen - Highwayman (1985)

Jacques Offenbach - Galop Infernal (Can-Can) (1858)

Janis Joplin - Get It While You Can (1971)

Janis Joplin - Summertime (Live, 1969)

Jean Cocteau - Le Testament d’Orphée (1960)

Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit (1967)

Jungle - Keep Moving (2021)

Led Zepplin-Jennings Farm Blues (1970)

Helen Reddy - Delta Dwan (1973)

Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side (1972)

Mack David and Jerry Livingston - This is It (Bugs Bunny Overture Theme) (1960)

Okay Temiz - East Breeze (1980)

Sylvester - Changes (1977)

Sylvester - He'll Understand (1983)

Velvet Underground -Sweet Jane (1973)

War - Don’t Let No One Get You Down (1975)

Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton - Summertime (1963)

original song “Wages of Sin” by Jules Indelicato and Michelle Carter

THANKS TO OUR COMMUNITY PARTNERS

OUT of Site: Haight-Ashbury is a project of CounterPulse’s House Artist Program.

OUT of Site began as a collaboration with Shaping San Francisco, a participatory community history project documenting and archiving overlooked stories and memories of San Francisco. Shaping San Francisco's public programming includes a FREE Public Talks Series, as well as bicycle and walking tours. A digital archive operating since 1998, Foundsf.org is an open source online historical resource for information on our City's past.

OUT of Site is made possible through generous support of our community partner San Francisco Heritage and its Doolan-Larson Residence and Storefronts, a National Treasure and city landmark at the corner of Haight-Ashbury.

We are so thankful for our partnership with the Haight Street Voice, a hyper-local community journal with a global perspective, and their gracious welcoming of OUT of Site into the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood!

THANKS TO OUR FUNDERS

This production is supported in part by the California Arts Council- a state agency (Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov), the Fleishhacker Foundation, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, San Francisco Arts Commission, CA$H | Theatre- a grant program of Theatre Bay Area, the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, and the Zellerbach Family Foundation

This project could not happen without the support of our greater Bay Area community. Click below to make a tax-deductible donation that helps us pay our artists a living wage and provide low cost tickets to those with financial barriers.

THANK YOU TO OUR CORPORATE SUPPORTERS

THANK YOU

Peggy Caserta, Adrian Card, Fayette Hauser, Michael Starkman, Jim Seigel, Michael Sumner, David Weissman, Mike Caffee, Pam Brennan, Joey Cain, and Nancy Gille for agreeing to be interviewed and for your generosity of spirit and stories of The Haight. 

To all of the many people who supported the vision of this project:

Michelle Carter, Emily Daubenmire Zile, Karl Soehnlein, Jim Metzger, Natalie Greene, Krista Denio, Bob Guter, Walter Rieman, Katie Gilmartin, Monique Jenkinson, Kevin Clarke, Adam Paulson, Stacy Feldstein, my tallest friend Ed Wolf, Paige Sellers, Tom Caldarola, my beloved- Guy Albert, Wyn Gorrell, Robert Elcock, Diego Gomez, Mitchell Bakst, Erika Chong Shuch, Pamela Hollings, Deborah Eliezar, Vidhu Singh, Mike Caffee, Kat Cole, Michael Whitson, Oren Postrel, Thank you to Val and Michael Nelson for their guidance and use of their puppet. Big shout out to Eric Wallner for communications support. Thank you Ed and Marion Eisen for all your love and support this year and every year of my life. Thank you to the fabulous artists and crew who created this work!

Thank you to our board The Eye Zen Council: Marian Daub, LisaRuth Elliott, Emmett Chan-Ren, Paul Peninger and Ruven Hannah. 

Thanks to the many individuals who supported Eye Zen Presents  this year. 

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ORGS: LisaRuth Elliot and Chris Carlsson at Shaping SF, San Francisco Heritage and Nancy Gille for your welcoming and open hearted stewardship of the neighborhood, organizations and the holding of Norm Larson’s vision-you really do open doors to people and hearts. THank you Linda Kelly at Haight Street Voice,  Kelly Harris and staff at Haight Street Art Center and a special thanks to Zerena and CounterPulse. Thank you to Mark Vogl and Kelly Varian at Vogl Consulting for your tremendous support over the past few years. Thank you to Alcina Horstman and Yesenia Sanchez and Marquitta Siplin for all of your guidance and care with our books and practices. 

This show is dedicated to the lives and memory of my three friends, my queer heroes who passed away this past year. Jewlia Eisenberg, Matthew Simmons (Peggy L’Eggs) and Nathan (Claude) Bergeron. You are always with me and woven into this work.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

OUT of Site Haight-Ashbury takes place on the traditional, unceded territory of the (Ramaytush Ohlone) people. We recognize their sovereignty, as there are no treaties on these lands, and we are dedicated to building a new relationship between our nations based on respect and consent.

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