The Other San Francisco Treat

Where does poetry come from? Well, poets, of course. But where do poets find it? Is it inside them, or somewhere out there in the world, waiting to be discovered and mined and put on the page? Nick, a young man stultifying in the Midwest of the 1950s, believes that the poetry is out there — maybe in San Francisco. So he journeys to the city by the bay to find it, live it and then record it. Nick discovers that the Beats' bohemian lifestyle suits him; free to debauch and be debauched, he revels in the pleasure of it all. One woman in particular seems to be the fountainhead of all poetic inspiration — but inspiration can spring from tragedy as well as bliss, can't it? In Tim J. Lord's 11 Hills of San Francisco, the wellspring of inspirado gets murkier by the moment. HotCity Theatre presents 11 Hills of San Francisco as part of its GreenHouse Series at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and at 7 p.m. Sunday (March 9 through 18) at the Centene Center for the Arts (3547 Olive Street; www.hotcitytheatre.org or 314-289-4063). Tickets are $12 to $15.
Thursdays-Sundays. Starts: March 9. Continues through March 18