FREE theater at SF Theater Fest

Take a big, tasty bite of Bay Area theater _ and do it for free _ at the San Francisco Theater Festival on Sunday, July 22. The festival's 10 stages will host more than 70 shows and nearly 300 actors.Among the participating theater companies and performers are Asian America Theater Company; Ruth Lynn Miller; African American Shakespeare Company; 42nd Street Moon; Magic Theater; Uncle Buzzy's Hometown Variety Show; BATS Improv; The Marsh; Intersection for the Arts; Lamplighters Music Theatre; Stanford Summer Theatre; Stagebridge Senior Theatre; Cutting Ball Theater; and Subterranean Shakespeare.Last year's festival attracted more than 6,500 people, and organizer Bill Schwartz says this is the only theater festival that showcases a ``huge variety of live theater in one place in one day. It's truly a people's festival.''The event runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Yerba Buena Gardens, which includes the Center for the Arts, Zeum and the Metreon, and is at Mission Street between Fourth and Fifth streets (nearest BART stations are Montgomery and Powell).``In centuries past, theater was a people's art form, and that is exactly what this festival is about,'' Schwartz says. ``We are returning theater to its roots.''For a schedule, visit www.sftheaterfestival.org or call (415) 291-8655.