Freebie of the week: The hearts are back! We’re talking about Hearts in SF, San Francisco General Hospital Foundation’s annual “hearty” fundraiser on behalf of the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, is arguably one of the best-known and most popular fundraising campaigns in the Bay Area. Each year, more than 20 local artists create colorful and evocative designs for the 400-pound, 5-foot-tall heart sculptures that are eventually auctioned off with funds going to the Hospital Foundation. In previous years, the hearts could be seen all around the city. But nowadays, they are displayed for free at the San Francisco Ferry Building, which is open to the public 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week. They’ll be on display through Feb. 11. (We can think of a lot worse ways to spend an afternoon than catching some sun and refreshing Bay breezes at the Ferry Building while checking out the hearts and maybe grabbing a brewski or lunch at a nearby dining spot.) On Feb. 12, the hearts will star at the annual Hearts After Dark fundraising gala at the Conservatory at One Sansome in San Francisco. Tickets for that range from $50-$500, For more information, go to sfghf.org/2026-hearts-in-san-francisco.
Brooding on the Bard: A young Black man dealing with how to fulfill his passion for writing and language in an unaccommodating world is the topic of Jacob Ming-Trent’s solo show “How Shakespeare Saved My Life” getting its world premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. As Ming-Trent puts it, “America tried to take my life, and somehow a five-hundred-year-old white dude saved it.” In the 95-minute performance directed by former Berkeley Rep artistic director Tony Taccone, Ming-Trent recounts an eventful and occasionally tragic childhood that left him exiting a Greyhound bus in New York City’s Port Authority at age 17 with his mind set on becoming an actor. While Shakespeare may be the biggest-name influence on the young Ming-Trent, the actor-playwright addresses how more contemporary wordsmiths like Tupac and Notorious B.I.G. influenced his love of language. Describing his show, Ming-Trent says, “It’s fun. You’ll be entertained. It ain’t boring. It’s a fast-paced romp with so many different landscapes and characters.” “Shakespeare” plays through March 1 in Berkeley Rep’s Peet’s Theatre. Tickets are $25-$135 at www.berkeleyrep.org.
Cooking a winner: It’s a powerful plot maneuver that almost never fails to bring an arresting moment to a story: a long-submerged memory that resurfaces and creates absolute emotional chaos. In “Running After Shadows,” a world premiere play written during the COVID shutdown by Vincent Terrell Durham, a man with a love of, and burgeoning talent for, all things cooking is knocked for a memory loop as he unpacks a new garlic press. All of a sudden, his promising present and his painful youth come crashing together. Playwright Durham, who’s based in Los Angeles, has said he developed his storytelling skills as a standup comic, so audiences shouldn’t expect “Shadows” to be a complete downer. Durham is known in the Bay Area for his pandemic-era streaming show “Polar Bears, Black Boys, and Prairie Fringed Orchids,” which was a hit on the PlayGround theater development nonprofit’s Zoom Fest. “Shadows” also received the Theatre Bay Area’s Rella Lossy Award, given to new works by emerging playwrights. “Shadows,” starring James Arthur M., is being presented by City Lights Theater in San Jose through Feb. 8. It’s helmed by acclaimed actor-director Aldo Billingslea. Tickets are $31-$75 at cltc.org.
A superlative strummer: A winner of the Rose Augustine Grand Prize at the international competition hosted by the Guitar Foundation of America, Leonela Alejandro, a native of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, who lives in Columbus, Georgia, makes her San Francisco debut Saturday night in a recital sponsored by the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts. Tickets for the 7:30 p.m. program at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 1111 O’ Farrell St., are $45 plus a $3 fee, available at omniconcerts.com. Works on her evening program include pieces by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Paulo Bellinati, Ronaldo Miranda, Toru Takemitsu, Leonardo Egúrbida, Juan Sorroche, Ernesto Cordero, Django Reinhardt and Leo Brouwer. Find a short sampling of Alejandro’s talent here.
A multiple awardee: Born in South Korea, raised in Lawrence, Kansas, and now a New York resident, classical keyboardist Chaeyoung Park was a semifinalist at the 2025 Cliburn International Piano Competition and winner of the 2022 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions as well as an Arthur Rubenstein International Piano Master Competition finalist. Hosted by the Steinway Society, she will be featured in a recital Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the McAfee Performing Arts and Lecture Center at Saratoga High School that will stream live. Her program begins with Debussy’s three-part “Pour le piano” and concludes with Ravel’s “La Valse,” with works by Brahms, Granados, Mompou, Albéniz and Messiaen in between. Tickets are $58-$78 for general admission and $26.75 per household for the livestream, which will be available for 48 hours. Find them and more information at steinwaysociety.com.