Hundreds of people donning hats, festival programs and various groups of small children packed the sun-drenched lawn in The Esplanade of the Yerba Buena Arts Center, as the sun shone down on a clear day and scores of dragonflies danced in the air. The people squinted into the sun and nudged by each other, all clamoring to see a woman in capri jeans and a pink t-shirt on a temporary stage sing a song about popularity.

The woman was from the San Francisco cast of "Wicked," and the temporary stage was located at the San Francisco Theater Festival for a brief stint last Sunday afternoon to entertain the ranks of theater lovers who turned out to experience Bay Area theater on the one whirlwind day of drama, comedy, music and magic in the theater district of San Francisco. Characteristically bubbly, her performance of the song "Popular" was one of the major draws of the Festival. After all, a chance to see a cast member from "Wicked" perform in broad daylight is a near brush with celebrity.

Centered in Yerba Buena Gardens, the festival transformed the entire area surrounding Mission and Third into a mecca for Bay Area theater of all sorts, with over 130 separate performances on 17 stages, all for free. Clowns, dancers, actors, puppeteers and lords and ladies in full Renaissance regalia wandered about, browsing the tables where local theater groups had set up camp. If there were a heaven that all lovers of small theaters and rag-tag bands of players could die and go to, the SF Theater Festival would be it.

A unique place for emerging companies to showcase their latest works to the local community, the festival hosted performances excerpted from plays produced throughout the Bay Area. The fledgling Antistrophe Ensemble, for one, presented a half-hour selection from what will be their first production, an original work titled "All's Fair." Meant as a response to "The Trojan Women" by Euripides, the show is a drama set in the old-time American West. A newly formed group with aspirations of responding to the classical dramatic canon, the members of Antistrophe are endearingly energetic and endowed with the fresh-faced enthusiasm of youth. Admittedly, the performance was a bit rough around the edges and had a hard time coping with the cramped space and limited time allowance, but their work will be something to look forward to in years to come.

On the second floor of the Museum of the African Diaspora (or MOAD), solo artists from all walks of life performed a wide variety of extended monologues. A standout was the fantastic monologue from a work-in-progress, one-woman-show called "I Didn't Sign Up for This," written and performed by San Francisco comedienne Julia Jackson under the direction of W. Kamau Bell of the Solo Performance Workshop. The piece follows a lesbian couple navigating the adoption process, which Jackson herself has undergone. Blending elements of reality and fiction, her monologue delved into sensitive themes but kept a remarkable comedic tone. Alone on the stage, her mere body language evoked each character distinctly, and her talent both as a writer and a performer was evident.

Upstairs in MOAD was the San Francisco improvisation group Crisis Hopkins. What made Crisis Hopkins stand out among other improv toupes at the festival was their effortless group dynamic-they were able to keep the gags going, work the audience for laughs and make it all look easy. In true improv style, the show culminated in jumping around the stage to the grooves of shamanistic music and mercilessly (albeit hilariously) mocking the group the Flight of the Conchords.

If the SF Theater Festival, with all of its strange faces, odd turns compelling stories, contains any coherent message, it is that "theater" goes beyond just what is playing on Broadway or at the Orpheum. Theater is also made by the everyday people and eccentrics with talent and passion enough to get in front of a crowd and tell their story. This homespun brand of performance is what truly shined at the festival. It was exciting to see local companies and comedy groups get a chance to pack audiences into rooms likely far bigger than most of their home theaters.

Of course, theater is always a little bit about being "Popular." The droves of people enjoying the "Wicked" performance were enough to prove that. But even more so, theater is a community act. It is about entertainment, yes. But it is also about discovering essence of everyday life: It is a study in the ways people understand each other and the world. And the San Francisco Theater Festival regales in this study, bringing people together in celebration of the dramatic form in all of its bountiful, fantastic oddity.