The Presidio Theatre has been around now for more than 85 years, having been originally been built as a Works Project Administration (WPA) project by the U.S. Army in 1939.
Back in its original heyday, the San Francisco venue on Moraga Avenue in the Presidio — not to be confused with the similarly named cinema on Chestnut Street — hosted such Hollywood stars as Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Marlene Dietrich and Loretta Young for audiences filled with military personnel and their families.
The theater closed in 1994, after the Army left the Presidio, but reopened to the public in 2019 after an extensive remodel and renovation.
It’s now under the watch of Lilly Schwartz, who took over as the venue’s executive and artistic director after years of working for SFJAZZ.
We recently spoke with Schwartz, who faces the challenge of trying to introduce the Presidio Theatre to audiences who have to yet to visit. The San Diego-born Schwartz, who moved around a lot (New Mexico, Seattle, etc.) and considers Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to be her true hometown, now lives in San Francisco.
Q: When did the performing arts first capture your imagination?
A: My parents listened to a lot of classical music, so that was what I first fell in love with. They would take my sister and me to many concerts and then I would go home and mimic the performers on the piano. The first concert that really captivated me was seeing a quintet perform Schubert’s Trout Quintet — a piece I love to this day.
Q: You originally set out to become a concert pianist, correct? What was it about that instrument that intrigued you so greatly?
A: Yes, I dreamed about being a concert pianist when I was young. I loved that the piano is a stand-alone instrument that could be a solo instrument or play in any configuration with other instruments. I also loved that it’s percussive and melodic and can sound like an entire orchestra.
Q: How did your plans change from performing art for a living to promoting and nurturing art for a living?
A: By the time I graduated college from University of the Arts in Philadelphia, I realized that being a musician was a lonely life, spending hours a day alone practicing and learning music for the next gig. This did not appeal to me — but I loved music and theater and the arts — so decided I wanted to build my life around the arts. At first I thought I wanted to be a professor, so I went to graduate school to study musicology. This, too, wasn’t quite the right fit for me — bringing the arts to life is what excited me.
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Q: Tell me about your first few jobs in the industry — the ones you had before you ventured to the Bay Area.
A: My very first job in the music industry was working for Theodore Presser Publishing Company writing about composers and promoting their works to orchestras. From there, I went to the Delaware Symphony where I worked as the artistic administrator, hiring the guest artists and running the rehearsals and shows. But it was the next position where I got my first real break, when I was the 12th person hired to work for the then un-built Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts (in Philadelphia). I consider those years my real graduate degree, as I learned the art of programming a season, negotiating fees, doing contracts and producing shows.
Q: What brought you out to the West Coast?
A: I first came to the Bay Area to attend the Monterey Jazz Festival. I immediately fell in love with San Francisco and the entire Bay Area. The Minnesota Orchestra (where Schwartz worked) was not in good shape at the time — in fact the musicians were in a lock-out situation — so all shows had to be cancelled. I was eager to move on, so focused my search to S.F. and the surrounding areas.
Q: How did you end up working for SFJAZZ?
A: I knew about SFJAZZ and was dying to get a position there. However, there were no openings in the artistic department, but I decided to submit my resume anyway and suggested that I would be delighted to help them program their season. At the time, they had just opened the new SFJAZZ Center (in 2013), so I figured they might be in a growth spurt and need more hands on deck.
I was also applying for a couple of other positions in the Bay Area — and actually a finalist for one — when miraculously the phone rang and I was asked to come and interview for the artistic producer job at SFJAZZ. The first big interview was with (SFJAZZ founder) Randall Kline followed by a trip to San Francisco and 15 more interviews with staff members. I was thrilled a few weeks later to receive the news that I had the job!
Q: What was it like working with SFJAZZ?
A: Working at SFJAZZ was an absolute joy! I loved Randall Kline’s philosophy that “anything influenced by or that influences jazz is jazz.” Following this philosophy allowed for a broad reach of programming including world music, classical, pop music and of course all the varieties of jazz itself. It was a wild ride, particularly in the early years where we went from booking about 120 shows to over 400.
Q: What was it like working with Kline?
A: I absolutely loved working with Randall. He set the bar very high for excellence and did not accept anything less than that. He is a true creative, so it was fun brainstorming ideas and dreaming up shows. I was very lucky as we had an incredible relationship and a similar energy in making things happen. He rarely said no to even the craziest of ideas, which made the work extremely fun and always interesting. He also has the unique ability to push you in your job and to allow you to create and dream.
Q: What led to the move to the Presidio?
A: I had been at SFJAZZ for a decade. It was time for something new, and it was time for me to be the No. 1 person at an organization.
Q: What are your job duties and responsibilities now?
A: I am the executive and artistic director for the Presidio Theatre. In that role, I am responsible for putting great art on the stage as well as running the entire organization. I have an incredible team who is not afraid to jump in, roll up their sleeves and get the job done.
I also have a wonderful partner in Peggy Haas, who is the founder and visionary for the theater. So my job is to keep the ship pointed in the right direction, while allowing the organization to bloom and grow.
Q: What are some of the most exciting aspects of this job?
A: Building the organization and seeing it really come to life. The theater has been presenting a Panto each year, last year it was “Peter Pan” that sold 13,000 tickets and will return this year for 21 performances around the holidays. Our new 2025-2026 season from September to May will present over 60 performances from local, national and international artists. I am very excited about our inaugural Resident Artistic Companies program where we will work with dance and music organizations and provide them with the theater as their home-base for two-years.
Q: What are the biggest challenges with the Presidio?
A: Getting the organization on the map, both literally and figuratively, is the first challenge we are working to overcome. We make announcements before every show, and during that we always ask how many people are here for the first time? About 70-90 percent of the audience raise their hands. I’d like that percentage to be 10-15.
Q: What is the goal for the venue?
A: To become a world-class performing arts center in San Francisco. We are striving to create a venue that will be a welcoming home for artists and audiences alike — a known destination in the Bay Area.
LILLY SCHWARTZ
Title: Executive and artistic director at the Presidio Theatre
Previous occupation: Artistic director, SFJAZZ; director of programming and pops, the Minnesota Orchestra
Residence: San Francisco
Hometown: Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Lilly Schwartz 5 things
1. Schwartz absolutely loves the ocean: “My happy place is on a boat, scuba diving and being a beach bum.
2. She’s a foodie who loves to cook and throw dinner parties.
3. She is both a cat and dog person and has one of each.
4. She’s a big movie buff, and throws an Oscar party every year.
5. She resided on an island: “I took a year off in the middle of my career and lived in the Caribbean on St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands.”
