The Dark Horse

Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, 33. Playwright and actor.

“I didn’t cry. I drank,” says Peter Nachtrieb of his reaction this past summer when he received the news that his play had won the prestigious American Theatre Critics Association Award for best new American Hunter Gatherers play to premiere outside New York. “It was surreal,” Nachtrieb says. “This prize had never gone to a theater company as small as Killing My Lobster,” referring to the SF-based sketch-comedy troupe for which he initially wrote Hunter Gatherers—a dark comedy exploring the primal urges of two couples at a SoMa dinner party. 

Now, Nachtrieb can actually make a living writing plays, which he’s been doing since his high-school days at the “pretty arty” Marin Academy in San Rafael. There, he was brought up by a Berkeley-raised, tuba-playing, Bohemian Club–belonging lawyer father and a German-born mother, the latter of whom he credits for his slightly warped sense of humor—humor being Nachtrieb’s “favorite way to get intimate with an audience. Laughter drops everyone’s guard.” 

Currently working on a new play titled Boom and a full-length commission for SF’s Encore Theatre, Nachtrieb, who lives in the Mission, can sometimes be found at Philz Coffee in the Castro, writing. “SF is a great city for characters, from the highly eccentric to the young urban professionals,” he says. There’s only one type of character he can’t stand: “People who take themselves way too seriously.”

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Q&A

What are some up-and-coming theater companies from this area?
Killing My Lobster, Shotgun Players, Crowded Fire. They’re all producing contemporary work, but they’re all only 10 to 15 years old.

Dream place to debut one of your plays?
The Berkeley Rep, on their thrust stage. I’ve seen plays there since seventh grade. That would be pretty amazing. That would be pretty great.

Influences and inspirations?
George Carlin, Eddie Murphy, Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, Steve Martin. We’d watch Monty Python as a family.

How hard is it to be a playwright here?
A big problem in this city is its transience, especially in the theater world. A lot of actors get their feet wet here and then move to New York or L.A., which makes sense because it’s hard to make a living in San Francisco.

Hottest thing about living in SF?
The food! The food is really good. And so is my boyfriend. And so is my family.

What the one thing you would change about SF if you could?
Less transience. I have grown weary of friends relocating to New York and Los Angeles. Fortunately, there seem to be more people not doing that these days. Non-committal people are so late ’90s. Please don’t call me a hypocrite if I move to Brooklyn.

Who would you chose for the Hot 20?
Lisa Steindler, artistic director of Encore Theatre Company and Z Space Plays. And not just because she’s commissioned me to write a play. She’s producing some of the most innovative, interesting and entertaining new work in the Bay Area, which is garnering national attention.

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