SAN FRANCISCO – A new production of the Broadway classic “Into the Woods” is bringing a dose of magic — and a reminder about the power of community — to Union Square this holiday season.

San Francisco Playhouse is staging the Stephen Sondheim musical now through mid-January.

What they’re saying:

Co-founder and producing director Susie Damilano said the show’s blend of childhood fairy tales and adult consequences feels especially resonant this year.

“It’s all the fairy tales we grew up with,” Damilano said. “In Act One we see the characters’ wishes come true. In Act Two, we see the consequences. It reminds us to be careful what we wish for.”

At the center of the production is a new story thread involving a baker and his wife longing to have a child. 

Damilano said the woods themselves become a metaphor for the characters’ journeys — mystical and inviting in some moments, dark and tangled in others.

“I decided that having magical, mystical woods would be the way to go,” she said. “They represent our collective unconscious… beautiful, but with a lot of tangled things in there, just like our own minds.”

Damilano said she cried the first time she saw the full production come together, moved by the design team’s work and the emotional weight of the story.

“It just takes my breath away,” she said. “This show touches us deep in our soul. It reminds us how important community is.”

Big picture view:

The production arrives at a time when many theaters are still struggling in the aftermath of the pandemic. 

Damilano said San Francisco Playhouse feels fortunate and energized by audiences returning to the city’s core.

“We’re filling our houses,” she said. “Union Square is coming back to life. People are out playing chess and ping pong again, the Christmas tree is up, there’s ice skating. It feels good.”

With its familiar characters and themes of family, loss, and longing, “Into the Woods” is designed to be a holiday-friendly experience for all ages.

“Into the Woods” runs through Jan. 17 at San Francisco Playhouse in Union Square. Tickets and show times are available at sfplayhouse.org.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — With only five days until Thanksgiving, food drives are kicking off to help across the Bay Area to help families experiencing food insecurity enjoy a holiday meal. This is all at a time when so many people are struggling financially.

Volunteers were cheering on every car, dropping off donations for the annual SF Turkey Drive.

Pierre Smit founded the turkey drive in 2012. It’s a community call to action for frozen Turkeys and Thanksgiving food donations, which benefits the SF-Marin Food Bank and its partners.

“This is extremely important. We want to make sure we feed everybody. We want to make sure we don’t have hungry people in San Francisco,” Smit said.

“This is a very good thing. I want to see it do well and support St. Anthony’s and the food bank, for those who need it most,” said Donna Howe from San Francisco.

MORE: Bay Area food banks in ‘crisis mode’ despite government shutdown ending

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and his family stopped by to help collect food donations.

“This is all about bringing community together, looking out for each other during this holiday season. We have an affordability crisis in the city and the country. We have to take care of each other. That’s what today is about,” Lurie said.

The food bank says it’s a critical time for families facing food insecurity. Demand is higher now than at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re seeing a 205% spike in people coming to our food locator — that’s people going online, trying to find food,” said Angela Wirch from SF-Marin Food Bank.

In the South Bay, a free drive-thru turkey giveaway in Santa Clara is lending a hand to a lot of families in need.

“I said, ‘You know, I’m having a hard time, so I’m going to come by and get a turkey for my family,’” said Manuel Rojas.

State Senator Aisha Wahab hosted the annual giveaway. She says it gets bigger every year.

“We know there’s people who live in poverty and in the shadows,” Wahab said.

On Thursday in Santa Cruz, demand overwhelmed supply at a drive-thru Thanksgiving food giveaway. Organizers ran out of food within hours after thousands of people showed up.

“One of the things we’ve heard, they’ve either been laid off, struggling. They didn’t want to come and receive a turkey but can’t deny they’re in need this year,” Wahab said.

When most people walk up to a vending machine, they expect to find sodas, chips or candy bars. But at a new kiosk in San Francisco, customers are met with something different: fresh pasta.

Chef Anthony Strong, owner of Pasta Supply Co., spent Monday restocking his latest project, a vending machine filled with freshly made pastas and sauces prepared at his flagship restaurant in the Mission District.

“So our most popular pasta by far is mafaldine,” Strong said, as he loaded containers into the machine.

Strong says the idea came from wanting to make his restaurant’s ingredients more accessible, even for people who have never visited in person.

The pasta and sauces are produced daily at the shop, then packaged and delivered to the vending machine for customers to take home and cook in minutes.

“I was like, hah, maybe we could actually just open tiny little versions of our pasta shop, selling fresh pastas and sauces, and you know, easy things for dinners at home,” he said.

From mafaldine to rigatoni, Strong said he hopes the machines can help busy workers avoid the nightly scramble for dinner.

“If they’re leaving work and they’re like, ah shoot, I didn’t make a plan for tonight, what am I going to do, we just wanted to be another option so people didn’t have to make an extra stop at a grocery store or go online and order a 40 dollar salad delivered on an app, or anything like that,” he said.

Customers appear curious and hungry. As Strong replenished the machine, David Pincus walked up and inspected the offerings.

“I haven’t seen a vending machine for homemade pasta before, so I hope it works out,” Pincus said. When asked what he chose, he replied, “I got meatballs, bucatini and chocolate panna cotta.”

Strong isn’t Italian, but he credits his early start in the restaurant world at age 15 for setting his path.

“Pasta found me,” he said with a laugh.

With two restaurants already open in San Francisco and more vending machines in development, Strong says his mission is simple: make fresh, approachable meals available to everyone, especially after a long day.

“Getting people, you know, approachable, affordable meals out, and approachable and affordable ingredients for meals at home.”