Toward a new history of Sledgehammer_ (1985 - )
"...the company hit the bleak landscape of San Diego's low-chic galleries and loft-culture desperadoes, mostly hidden from view in that white-collar Navy town. They produced in storefronts, a parking garage, a 20,000 square foot industrial space, a canyon, literally dodging the fire marshall at every step."
_American Theatre, from their March
1995 issue headlined by "The Bad Boys of San Diego Theatre"
_featuring a company profile and syllabus "How to Sledgehammer Theatre" by Ferdinand Lewis
"....living helter-skelter, Sledgehammer survived by tenacity, bravado and street smarts. Like ornery alley cats, they outlived fires, eviction, casting calamities and other natural disasters. More miraculously, Sledgehammer slowly won the hard-earned esteem of Southern California's critical establishment... a Sledgehammer cult emerged. One Friday night preview of their world premiere of Mac Wellman's 7 Bl****bs turned in to a happening as excitement buzzed the crowd as at a rock concert. The Wellman production played to sold out houses and went in to an extended run of several months. Moreoever, the author [and the press] praised the production for its nasty comic brio and blistering precision."
_TheatreForum, from their 1991 premiere issue
_written by Allan Havis
In the 21 years between its founding in 1985, and its last instance of a production in 2008, Sledgehammer Theatre became a legendary and consistently unexpected player in the San Diego cultural landscape. From the start, the company was constantly [re] emerging in a state of ferocious-reinvention, always being discovered anew, and quickly establishing itself as a nationally recognized artistic force known for intense dedication to the development of new American voices in the theatre. To put it another way, Sledgehammer created, performed and presented over 2100 performances of 66 productions including 22 world premieres and eight west coast premieres. Sledgehammer functioned as a regional center for the creation of new theatrical events. The company provided an environment for the exploration of theatrical forms; a laboratory for established and emerging artists; and an arena for public participation in the immediacy of new and provocative American theatre. The company's work was consistently distinguished for adventurous excellence and numerous artistic achievements; routinely recognized for spectacular use of space and design, prolific new play development, and vibrant performances. Sledgehammer spent most of their early years as urban gypsies alternating between sites ranging from San Diego's Old Carnation Milk Factory and a variety of now-abandoned or destroyed warehouses, to San Diego's Old Globe Theatre and New York's Whitney Museum of American Art.
