Name: Austin Forbord

Title: Artistic Executive Director of Rapt Productions, and Director of Stage Left: A Story of Theater in San Francisco

Neighborhood: Uptown Oakland - 25th Street, ground central for Art Murmur!

Gig: Videographer for the SF Dance Community

What are you up to these days? In addition to the broadcast premiere of Stage Left on KQED on November 11th, I just finished three dance films for Tiit Helimets, principle dancer SF Ballet, for Friday's at the de Young. We also just had the cast and crew screening for Well Contested Sites, a movement film I directed with Amie Dowling on Alcatraz with twelve previously incarcerated men. It's about the condition of the imprisoned body, in an effort to bring awareness to the problem of over incarceration in the US. Now I am starting a doc about Kitka for their 30th anniversary to premiere next year.  I'm also coaching my son's soccer team, the Thunder Squirrels.

Where do you get your local gossip? Usually from the source. Dancers are terrible gossips.

What's your favorite under-the-radar local restaurant? Evergreen Garden. Cheap Vietnamese food on Harrison in a building that could actually be in Vietnam

Where's your secret spot? Biking on Skyline and Grizzly peak. Amazing views.

Why do you love your neighborhood? Uptown in Oakland has a real center of gravity, and First Fridays illustrate what makes the Bay Area great. Diverse, free art, in the street.

What's your favorite SF institution? SF Ballet.