New Conservatory Theatre Center

This is a small theater with a little bar (wine, beer, a couple of cocktails, soda). They have good and affordable shows, I definitely recommend to be on their mailing list.

What a great spot! My husband and I came here to watch Avenue Q.
I was surprised at the intimate setting, but I really enjoyed my visit. The actors and puppeteers were amazing, and we laughed and laughed!
This was my first time at this theatre, but I hope to be back. They do a variety of community events and from what I read, they really support the arts within the community (children, teens, etc.).
Make a date and enjoy your time at the New Conservatory Theatre!

Took my boyfriend here to see Avenue Q and we LOVED it! What a flawless performance. In terms of the actual theater, it’s small and cozy. Even if you get seats in the back row, you still get a pretty good view. Buying tickets on the NCTC website is not the most user-​friendly experience, especially since I get directed multiple times to previous expired showings of Avenue Q from my search queries. Kinda annoying, but it worked out in the end. To end on a positive note, I do like the initiatives that NCTC adopts. Overall great program to raise money for, and a fantastic seasons of shows!

Thank you for bringing us Avenue Q! I saw this on Broadway a few years ago and it was amazing. I’d have to say that the actors/​actresses were spot on! The small theater provides a great view for every seat in the house and I enjoyed the more intimate feel compared to larger theaters.
They sell snacks and drinks in the lobby and there is a parking lot the next block over if you don’t want to deal with hassle of finding free street parking in the area. Great place to catch a show!

Just saw Avenue Q at the NCT this past Saturday. First time we had seen this show. My son had heard about it from his teacher. What a blast! Took my wife, aunt, son and his high school classmate. We enjoyed the show immensely although there were some awkward moments of and adult nature that caught me by surprised. Highly entertaining, irreverent and fun. My wife said she couldn’t remember the last time she laughed so hard. Actors /​singers were wonderful. Please go see the show.
Theater itself is nice with a positive vibe. It is a small and intimate theater compared to the other larger ventures for musicals, eg Orpheum, Golden Gate. Only about 12 rows of seats. We sat near the front and assume the seats in the rear would be good too. Workers are very friendly. Also appreciate that they sell snacks, beverages (both alcoholic and non-​) at reasonable prices.

I’ve been entertained by NCTC for more than 20 years! They never let you down– compelling, heart-​warming and endearing performances every time. A great value, a great venue, awesome direction, production, set designs and costumes. Last night I saw «The Nance» and was absolutely blown away. Better than anything I’ve seen on Broadway! Another knock out of the park for Ed Decker and his talented crew!

Great place to see a show. The ambiance was great and there isn’t a bad seat in the house

My bf and I saw Avenue Q here and the experience was excellent!
I’ve watched some clips from the Avenue Q original Broadway cast and I just have to say that the NCTC production of Avenue Q was so so so awesome and the performance by the 2015 cast was perfect! If you get a chance to see it, please do! :)
The venue is conveniently located right by the Van Ness Muni station, so getting there was easy. The theater is small and very intimate (much smaller than a typical movie theater) — any seat in the house will give you a great view.

Saw Avenue Q here!
A small theater, which allows everyone to have a great view of the show. The staff was friendly. There’s a bar that serves beverages including beer, wine, and cocktails along with snacks. Check in on Unilocal for $ 1 off!
Would definitely come back for another production!

Small intimate stage in the venue. Bar was convenient. Friendly staff.

Went here to Katia on a Hot Tin Roof, and LOVED everything about the venue. Intimate, friendly, comfortable. Quick turnaround at the bar.
This place is the San Francisco I remember and loved ten years ago. Right here.

Really, really gay theater! So very gay!

If you have a problem with you ticket they don’t really have very good customer service for a season ticket holder.
They some how had a problem printing my ticket for the last show of the season. In October when I went to the box office to ask them about it. I was told that yes they had problems with the seating for this show but that I could still have the same day and seat as I had in my subscription.
Fast forward to the night of the show. And Bingo someone else has a ticket for my seat. Guess what … They told me I needed to move! Really I’m a season ticket holder. I have been for over 3 years yet I get to move.
Am I a baby that wants his own way. Heck Yeah!!! I bought the seats over a year ago. I planned on got to the show tonight. I went all the way there found parking and now I’m back at home to wait and see the show a different night.
I guess you just need to be careful… being a season ticket holder does not mean you get to see the show on the day you have a ticket for.

RE: AVENUE Q
Puppets DO have sexual urges too! Its true, I witnessed puppet porn on the stages of NCTC! AND they do know every position found in a Karma Sutra how-​to book (wink wink)!
The story is based on a set of residents that live on Avenue Q. Most of the residents are trying to find themselves and figure out, well life. These puppets encounter feelings of insecurities, doubts and seek their dreams out all the while going through the ups and downs of life’s emotions. And eventually, they find what their true PURPOSE in life is… to seek out happiness (wink wink).
All the songs were witty and discriminating with a lot of wholesome fun. And the cast members were superior multi-​taskers. Since this is a low budget, low end production, each performer had more than 1 role to pull off. KUDO’s to each of them for pulling this off along with puppeteer, singing, dancing, and watching the puppets emotions through the actors faces.
Show ends on January 12, 2014. Catch it before it’s gone! Musical theater fans will not regret watching this one. The acoustics in NCTC are not amplified and distorted like larger venues I’ve gone to. You can actually hear them sing with their pure vocal cords! And the songs… all enjoyable!
You will never look at Sesame Street the same way after watching this adult version!!!
NOTES: All seats have perfect viewing, there is not a single bad seat in the house. This is an old dusty historical venue, I would recommend wearing a dust mask. My throat was feeling ticklish throughout the performance. Wednesday night — lots of free parking around the venue.

Just saw AVENUE Q – it was super fantastic!
Even though we sat in Row G (about 7 rows from the stage)
our view was perfect. This is a smaller venue (less than 100? seats)
I am an AVENUE Q-​aholic! I love love love ethos musical. I’ve only seen it three times but I listen and sing along to the soundtrack at least
4 – 5 times a day.
The entire cast put in a fresh exhilarating performance! The entire cast clearly
loved what they were doing. Each cast member has an impressive list of credits.
I went with three friends all AVENUE Q Newbies. They all laughed and smiled
enjoying every minute. My friend, J, thought the actors and puppets blended so well
together that it appeared that the puppets had facial expressions! His wife, D,
sat next to me and she loved it even more than I thought. Their son, T, loved it too.
He has sang and acted in many middle and high school shows as several
violen and choral productions. This 15 year old has high standards .He LOVED
it too.
The entire audience loved it. When the opening music began there were obviously
big fans and repeat viewers like me and were shouting out «Yays!» too.
Teresa Attridge was terrific as CHRISTMAS EVE! Lovely voice and great
reactions to her husband, Brian.
Zac Schulman as BRIAN was a joy to watch! The minute he stepped on stage I knew
I was gong to enjoy him! Goofy and talented – he actually did a cartwheel after
one of his songs. His singing and acting were flawless!
Stephanie Temple as KATE and LUCY was so tender and wonderful. Kate is my favorite character so I was instantly drawn in, feeling her joy and pain.
Stephanie has a strong voice but it has the softest features so applicable to Kate.
Will Giammona as PRINCETON and ROD gave a moving and delightful performance.
He has been in 40 major productions in the last decade. Any show would be
lucky to have him. Of course since my Princeton is my second favorite character
I totally was in sync with him.
Sam Jackson as GARY COLEMAN. She WAS Gary Coleman.
I loved her acting and singing.
Christopher Morrell as NICKY and TREKKIE was also superb!
His voice totally captured the two different characters.
Millie DeBenedict as MRS THISTLEWAT and the Auxilliary Puppeteer was great
Even though her roles may seem secondary she put her fine voice as enthusiastically
as the rest of the cast.
The entire cast coordinated the puppets’ movements so easily it was sometimes hard to separate where the puppets began or ended.
Last but certainly not the least are the marvelous musicians Ben Prince,
I-​Yum Chung and Tim Vaughan. Even though they were behind the scenes their
music was enchanting
It was a delightful evening that I know other people will thoroughly enjoy as well.
There are only a few tickets left until it ends on January 12^th.
If you have the chance go see it!
Thank you New Conservatory Theatre and everyone affiliated with AVENUE Q.
I hope you will bring back Avenue Q next year!

This is the biggest, little LGBT theater in the city. It’s located in the basement of a building in a very nice space. I recently saw «Band Fags» the play here and it was great. The space is intimate and inviting. The temperature was perfect. The staging was well done. The acoustics were great too.
I will definitely come back to see something else here.

My first time here was to see «Birds of a Feather.» Great performance. Small, intimate theater. Reasonably priced drinks and snacks. You can drink wine in your seat! One of my favorite performance venues.

Came here to see «the fabulous wonderettes». It was AMAZING! It was sooooo fun and hilarious! The singing was very good (that’s important, after all this is a musical)! My friend loved it, too. It was much better than i anticipated.
Street parking is a challenge in Nov/​Dec, even on weekdays, so I’d recommend taking public transportation.

Saw XANADU the other night & we had such a fun evening!
Take cheesy 80s references, a campy, adoration for the movie Xanadu & spoof it all — on roller skates — & you’ve got Xanadu. This was such a pleasant surprise. Amateur troop acting out the Play but it gave it that much more camp & appropriate level of endearment. You’ve got ELO, lamé & legwarmers & all on roller skates to a disco beat — what could be better?
Located down in the basement of the building, you’ll find 2 theaters w/​New Conservatory Theater Center & we were in the Decker Theater
Small theater that boasted comfy seats, almost perfect viewing w/​just a smidgen of heads from the row in front to block, sound was perfect & you could take drinkys inside — woot!
Be sure to wear layers though b/​c it got hot as blue blazes in there once everyone was crammed inside & the doors were shut
Will totally keep my eyes peeled for other shows at New Conservatory!

They say you can’t go home again. Well you can, and you do, but you get all verklempt, and can’t truly appreciate home for what it is now. At least that is my SOP. Boy that makes me tedious to be around. You should stop reading this review right now if you bore easily.
I had good times back in the day @ NCTC, working on a stage production of, well I’m not going to say in order to protect those still alive. In fact we had such a «good» time we were asked to never return, thank you very much… the box of broken cookies making up our cast and crew held alcoholics, junkies, speed freaks, sex addicts and other maladjusted types. It was too easy for our addictions to infect the cast of the neighboring play as the dressing rooms were conjoined — that was one of «management’s» main beefs.
Obviously you’re never quite sure, either, who will make it to the theatre for curtain, and if their condition will allow them to fulfill their assigned role. Oh the fun, the shenanigans, hijinks, tomfoolery, infighting, backstabbing, medical emergencies and bad acting.
I’m pretty proud of the entertainment we provided, and that we were asked to never again darken the door at New Conservatory. So, when I go back these days and see the spruced up space and the fancy sets, I’m nostalgic for the more root cellar-​y aesthetic of yesteryear, half expect to get thrown out, and I know I won’t be seeing anything near as daring as what we did back when.
But really, 4 stars for hanging in there and making a place for live theatre. You go NCTC!