BART Connects: BART and the African-American Shakespeare Company “help each other grow and succeed”
Sherri Young stands outside the Civic Center Station entrance across from the Orpheum Theatre.
Lifelong BART rider Sherri Young took a major gamble in 2015 when she transferred the African-American Shakespeare Company from a 200-seat theater about a mile from BART to a series of big venues in Downtown San Francisco.
The performance spaces she chose – the Herbst Theatre, Taube Wilsey Atrium, and Marines Memorial Theatre – are nestled in the heart of the city’s vibrant theater and arts district encompassing parts of Union Square, the Tenderloin, and Civic Center. The area is home to iconic venues like the War Memorial Opera House, the Orpheum Theatre, the American Conservatory Theater, and the Orpheum, among many others. All of these historic theaters are a short walk from BART or, in the case of the Orpheum, just steps from the station.
Weighing the pros and cons of moving her company, Sherri calculated if people could take transit to the company’s performances, she just might be able to fill all the seats in those giant theaters.
“You have to meet the community where they are,” Sherri said. And if community members don't live near Downtown San Francisco, they most likely lived by BART or agencies that connect to it. You can’t go to the theater, she thought, if you don’t have a means to get there.
Sherri is the Executive Director and Founder of the African-American Shakespeare Company. In September, it celebrates 30 years of classical theater produced and performed by artists as diverse as their audiences.
“I founded the company because there weren’t a lot of people like me on the stage, and there were even fewer in Shakespeare and works of that nature,” Sherri said. “It was a missed opportunity because the stories are wonderful – they're about being human. I asked myself: What if we told the story in a different setting with music and cultural icons that my community would be able to grasp better and feel compelled to come see?”
The organization’s cornerstone production is “Cinderella,” created by Sherri and company members and performed every December at the Herbst Theatre -- a 10-minute walk from Civic Center/UN Plaza Station. Other productions in 2024 included Dominique Morisseau’s “Pipeline,” about the complexities and nuances of Black parenting in the inner-city, and Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew.” The former was performed at Taube Wilsey Atrium Theater (an 11-minute walk from Civic Center/UN Plaza Station) and the latter at the Marines’ Memorial Theatre (a six-minute walk from Powell Street Station).
A promotional photo for “Cinderella” from 2022, starring Funmi "Lola" Awopetu in the title role.
In 2015, Sherri met Jill Buschini, who manages BARTable Co-Marketing Partnerships (learn more about these partnerships here). Sherri wanted to build the reputation of African-American Shakespeare Company and realized “we could do that through BART.” She signed a co-marketing agreement with BART so the two organizations could promote each other with no exchange of money.
"From the moment we met, we just clicked!” said Buschini. “Over the past 9+ years, Sherri and I have cultivated a co-marketing partnership that has allowed both of our organizations to reach new audiences and achieve greater marketing impact together. I've watched her organization grow and thrive, just as she’s seen BARTable expand—even through a pandemic! I think I can speak for both of us when I say we've both enjoyed the journey, and I feel honored to know her and work alongside her. I look forward to our continued partnership and collaboration to get more people on BART to experience her amazing productions!"
As part of the partnership, you’ll see the BARTable logo on many African-American Shakespeare Company materials, including their website and performance programs. In exchange, BART posts banners and digital advertisements around the system promoting the company’s performances. BARTable also runs an annual sweepstakes for “dinner and a show” at the African-American Shakespeare Company through its Contests and Deals program. Sherri considers BART “one of our best and most critical partners.”
“Small organizations like ours can’t afford to pay much into marketing,” Sherri said. She prefers those dollars go to people and program expenses. “BART helps us get the word out and make connections.” Besides, "You can go to dinner, a show, a bar, stay up late, then take the train home.”
Sherri Young featured in a BART advertisement.
The relationship goes deeper than marketing. For Sherri, it’s all about connection.
“BART has physical extensions to communities, but we’re giving BART access to our community as well,” she said. BART and arts organizations like the African-American Shakespeare Company enrich and uplift one another. One gives people a place to go, the other gets people there. If patrons can’t find a way to the theater, the show won’t go on.
Because of that natural synergy, Sherri said "BART is going to be a lifelong partner of the company. We’re helping each other grow and succeed.”
The African-American Shakespeare Company was born more than thirty years ago as a one-time showcase in a small black box 50-seat theater with friends and scrounged costumes. It has since grown into a company of ten full-time employees that work with 11 teaching artists, and up to 80 actors, designers, and technicians every year.
In those thirty years, BART’s grown too. In 1994, BART had just 34 stations. Today, it has 50.
To borrow Sherri’s phrasing: “We’re growing! We’ve grown! We’re doing all the things! And we’re all in this together.”
About BART Connects
The BART Connects storytelling series was launched in 2023 to showcase the real people who ride and rely on BART and illustrate the manifold ways the system affects their lives. The subjects of BART Connects will be featured in videos as well as a forthcoming marketing campaign that is slated to run across the Bay Area. Find all the stories at bart.gov/bartconnects.
The series grew out of BART's Role in the Region Study, which demonstrates BART’s importance to the Bay Area’s mobility, cultural diversity, environmental and economic sustainability. We conducted a call for stories to hear from our riders and understand what BART means to them. More than 300 riders responded, and a selection of respondents were interviewed for the BART Connects series.