Bindlestiff wins $600K grant

Bindlestiff, the Filipino American arts group that was displaced from its little space a few years ago when the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency tore down the funky old Plaza Hotel at Howard and Sixth streets, has scored about $600,000 in city funds to build a 99-seat theater on the same site.

The theater will occupy the ground floor of a smart, new subsidized-housing tower that has Japonesque touches and palm trees on the former Skid Row corner. Work is expected to begin in early 2007 and be finished by the end of the year.

The city is giving Bindlestiff, which has been operating out of a nearby Natoma Street space, $100,000 from its just-approved 2006-07 budget, in addition to $317,000 from the Redevelopment Agency, which owns the property. The Mayor's Office of Community Development also kicked in $60,000, to be used for programs for "underserved" South of Market youth. The theater has to raise about $300,000 for sound and lighting. Backers include the Filipino American Development Foundation, Manilatown Heritage Foundation, the Philippine Consulate General and the South of Market Community Action Network.

The theater, which began in 1989 as a lab for experimental theater in the gory Grand Guignol tradition, took its name from the early 20th century American term for hobo, the out-of-work stiff who roams the land with his stuff in a bundle, or bindle, at the end of a branch. Bindlestiff has focused on Filipino American and Pilipino artists since '97. It presents theater and music, film festivals, comedy and kids' programs.

"The rebuilding of our space honors the hundreds of artists who have performed at the theater," said a statement from Bindlestiff board member Alex Torres, "and is a testament to the history, struggles and rise of the Filipino American community in the SoMa and beyond."