The moment you walk into SF Playhouse, just off Union Square, the homey, lived-in feeling gives you the strange sense that whatever you were looking for, you’ve come to the right place. Head up the creaky staircase and into the intimate lobby, where the “box office” is an eager young volunteer cutting tickets behind an old, rec room–style bar. Suddenly, you hear the buzz of a heated crowd in the next room. It sounds like a gathering of friends, an impromptu cocktail party. You move past the tiny concession stand, into the packed house, and to your seat. The audience, still bubbling with talk, takes more than a minute to settle down when the house finally goes dark.

When the lights come up again, they reveal the kind of polished, professional set you might find at a Bay Area theatrical institution like A.C.T., whose commercial and artistic cred goes all the way back to the 1960s. SF Playhouse is a baby by comparison—not yet five years old—but the design, by artistic director Bill English, brings the world of the play to life with impressive precision.

We’re here to see The Scene, Pulitzer Prize finalist Theresa Rebeck’s acidic comedy of romantic disaster. The knockout cast features busy local actors Aaron Davidman and Howard Swain, Heather Gordon (the reigning Miss Marin County), and film and television star Daphne Zuniga, whose credits include Spaceballs, Nip/Tuck, and Melrose Place. Wait a minute—what’s a Southern California celebrity doing in a 99-seat theater on Sutter Street?

For that matter, how is it that SF Playhouse is giving a West Coast premiere to a playwright of Rebeck’s caliber? Why is it that last year, when Bay Area acting legend Joy Carlin heard the Playhouse was premiering David Lindsay-Abaire’s Kimberly Akimbo (like Rebeck, Lindsay-Abaire is a Broadway/Off-Broadway player), she called to offer herself for the title role? And how is it that SF Playhouse has already racked up such an impressive list of accolades—garnering 20 nominations for Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle awards in its first year alone?

This intimate little company is theater insiders’ best-kept secret; the buzz, though loud, has been limited to those in the know. A few months ago, however, the Playhouse won five Bay Area theater awards in its category (99 seats or less), including Best Actor in a Drama (Oakland-based Cagney & Lacey alumnus Carl

Dominic Orlando is a writer, producer, and director based in Minneapolis and San Francisco.