Hammer Theatre Performing Arts Center

Here at the Hammer Theatre, we are missing our performing groups and patrons, our students and volunteers.  We face an uncertain time, with the gathering of audiences prohibited for the foreseeable future. 

For the moment, our stage is dark.  But we can help keep live performing arts alive by reinventing the way we deliver performances. 

Instead of asking audiences to gather at the Hammer, we plan to bring entertainment to the home by investing in technology: a studio quality, multi-camera video setup that will allow us to livestream events.  

We’ve already had success with an experiment in live streaming.  The shelter-in-place order in March, prohibited us from hosting an audience for our scheduled performances by Mummenschanz. However, the troupe graciously permitted us to livestream their performance via the fixed camera mounted on our balcony.  After watching that stream, critic Lily Janiak of the San Francisco Chronicle raved, “The lights on that HD camera looked so gorgeous I frequently had the illusion — especially with all Mummenschanz’s shapes and colors — that I was watching one of those wordless shorts at the top of a bill with a full-length Pixar feature.“

To keep the Hammer and live performing arts alive until we can welcome you back to the theatre, we need your help.  Streaming art forms like theatre, dance, and concerts will require multiple cameras, a switcher, cables and other technology -- as well as training our production staff and SJSU students to become video technicians.  It’s a significant investment, but we believe it’s one worth making so we can continue our mission of serving and benefiting the community through superior programming expressive of the unique characteristics and diverse cultures that comprise the greater Silicon Valley.

We are asking all those who have been touched by a speaker or performance on our stage or screen to help us in one of three ways:

1. Give whatever you can. Any donation can make a difference!
2. Share on social media.
3. Email this page to family and friends.

With your help, we can do this.