-- Cabaret for Humanity: Cabaret isn't just about getting drunk while telling self-centered stories about your life. Sometimes they give back. One of the city's best venues is getting all benefitt-y on our asses. This evening (and tomorrow night) they host an all-star lineup of local talent including, Tony Koester Kim Kuzma, Irene Soderberg, Veronica Klaus, Paul Elia, Basic Black & the Rob Evans Quartet, Joe Collins, Meg Mackay, Ethyl Merman, Mark Miller, Mercedez Munro, Tom Orr, Carly Ozard, Blue Blanket Improv, Brian Yates-Sharber, Katya Smirnoff-Skyy, Bebe Sweetbriar, Jonathon Reisfeld, Artemis Chase, and more. Net proceeds go to HHSF efforts, which provide homes for San Francisco families. (Hey, agoraphobic single fellas with cats need homes too, you know!) Starts at 7:30 p.m. (tonight and tomorrow night, folks) at the Empire Plush Room; $40. more ›

This past Sunday, under blazing blue skies in the City's snuggly warm SOMA bosom of Yerba Buena Gardens (YBG), there were no microphones, no stage lights, and no admission fees (and sadly no news coverage). There was plenty of energy though in the form of 10,000 spectators watching 267 actors in 77 different shows on 10 stages for the fourth annual San Francisco Theater Festival (SFTF).

The festive and well-attended public event filled not only the outdoor venues of the YBG like the Stone Stage, the Waterfall, and the Rock Circle, but also filled up indoor venues the Metreon and Zeum.

The San Francisco Theater Festival is an annual free event intended to build the theater-going audience by acquainting people with live-theater performance in the Bay Area. "It's always a bit of a crapshoot" SFTF Executive Producer Bill Schwartz told SFist on Tuesday, but he loves what he does and hopes that people will continue to join him in making the Bay Area a truly great theater town.