Costume Designer Beaver Bauer Gets a Free Retrospective at the Main Library Through April 11

From Street to Stage with Beaver Bauer, a free retrospective of costume designer Debra “Beaver” Bauer, opens Thursday, November 5, 2026, in the Jewett Gallery on the lower level of the San Francisco Public Library’s Main Library at 100 Larkin St. It runs through April 11, 2027, according to the library’s exhibition page.

Who Beaver Bauer is

Bauer joined the Angels of Light, a San Francisco free theater troupe known for gender-bending productions staged in parks, community centers and the streets, in 1970, and performed with the group for 14 years, KQED reported. The library describes the troupe’s cast as heavily affected by AIDS. Bauer then built a career in costume design, working for American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) and Berkeley Rep, experimental companies such as First Voice and Theater Yugen, and the circus company Teatro ZinZanni. KQED and Mission Local also list figure skater Brian Boitano among her clients. She is 76.

What is in the exhibition

The library says the show includes original costume renderings, performance photography, video clips and costume elements from more than 50 years of work. KQED reports full costumes and elaborate headdresses among the pieces, along with process boards showing how Bauer builds a single look from unrelated references. One example KQED describes: for Brenda Wong Aoki and Mark Izu’s MU, Bauer drew on red-tipped sea worms, the Supremes and wedding kimonos, and made a seahorse costume with red boba straws.

Mission Local reports a section devoted to “The Bus Queen’s Gazette,” sketches of Muni riders that Bauer began drawing in 2016. Just outside the gallery, Bauer designed a memorial wall to members of the Angels of Light who have died, with their photographs set in lockets hanging from a drawing of a willow tree, according to KQED.

The show is co-curated by Mark Johnson, Trisha Lagaso Goldberg and Theo B. Lau, and it is one of the first exhibitions in the Further Triennial, a program of more than 100 exhibitions and events on Northern California art that officially launches in March 2027, KQED reported.

Dates, events and hours

• Opening reception: Thursday, November 5, 5 to 7:30pm, Jewett Gallery and Koret Lobby. Free. Bauer has asked friends to come dressed up, KQED reported.
• Panel discussion: Wednesday, January 20, 2027, 6 to 7:30pm, Jewett Gallery.
• Closing parade: Saturday, April 3, 2027, 1 to 4pm, in the Atrium, Koret Lobby and Jewett Gallery.
• Admission: free.

The Main Library’s posted hours are Monday 9am to 6pm, Tuesday through Thursday 9am to 8pm, Friday noon to 6pm, Saturday 10am to 6pm and Sunday noon to 6pm. All San Francisco Public Library locations are closed Wednesday, November 11, for Veterans Day. Check sfpl.org before a visit, since hours can change on holidays.

More Angels of Light exhibitions in 2027

The library lists three related exhibitions at the Main Library next year, which together make the Bauer show the start of a longer look at the troupe:

• Let the Stars Fall Down!: Theater & Magic with the Angels of Light, 1970-1984: February 26 to July 15, 2027, James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center, 3rd floor.
• The Art of Costume: Dress Your Part: March 12 to May 13, 2027, Steve Silver Beach Blanket Babylon Music Center, 4th floor.
• Digger Do, Queer Beat, Mutant Communes: The Radical Origins of the Angels of Light Free Theatre: May 1 to July 9, 2027, San Francisco History Center, 6th floor.

Getting there and nearby

The Main Library sits on Larkin Street at Civic Center, across from the Asian Art Museum, which is showing a nearly 20-foot bronze Vishnu from Angkor. The Civic Center BART and Muni Metro station is on Market Street, a short walk away. For more free and low-cost plans this month, see our guide to things to do in San Francisco in November 2026, and note that the library’s Mission Branch reopens on November 14.

Sources: San Francisco Public Library, From Street to Stage with Beaver Bauer; KQED, Sarah Hotchkiss, Nov. 2, 2026; Mission Local, Charles Lewis III, Nov. 4, 2026.

Photo: SparkFun Electronics, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.