PLAYGROUND’S 32nd SEASON WRITERS POOL, RESIDENT PLAYWRIGHTS, COMMISSIONS ANNOUNCED

SAN FRANCISCO – PlayGround, a leading national playwright incubator and theatre community hub, is pleased to share plans for its 32nd anniversary season. The season announcement coincides with the release of the 2025-26 Writers Pools, 112 early-career playwrights in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago, who will participate in PlayGround’s signature incubator program, Monday Night PlayGround, developing more than 600 new short plays this season of which 96 will be staged by the four communities over the course of 16 public events, all performed in-person and simulcast under a first-in-the-nation SAG-AFTRA agreement. PlayGround has also announced the 24 playwright alumni selected for this year’s Resident Playwrights Program, including five playwrights under commission and representing all four regions. The 2025-26 Season will feature more than 100 public performances of new works by PlayGround playwrights, ranging from fringe-style full productions to a Hitchcock-inspired holiday show, and from new solo performance to developmental staged readings and premieres of bold new full-length plays. Taken altogether, PlayGround’s 32nd Season represents the nation’s largest celebration of new playwrights and new works and stands as a true celebration of the vitality and promise of the American Theatre. 

Following the conclusion of the Monday Night series, PlayGround presents Best of PlayGround, a celebration of the top new playwrights and works from the season, in Los Angeles (April 6), New York (April 20), Chicago (April 27) and San Francisco (May 23-24).

2025-26 PlayGround Company

PlayGround also recently announced its 2025-26 Company, including the Writers Pool, Resident Playwrights and Artist Company. These 160+ artists will fuel PlayGround’s incubator programs over the next season, fostering the development of more than 150 original short and full-length plays.

The PlayGround-SF 2025-26 Writers Pool includes: Linda Ayres-Frederick, Paul Braverman, Robyn Brooks, Madeleine Butler, Melina Cohen-Bramwell, Jediah Craig, Laura Domingo, Garret Groenveld, Frances Hartline, Carl Johnson, Ruth Kirschner, Greg Lam, Justin Lopez, Daniel Martinez Jr., Gillian O’Leary, Richard Perez, James Perry, Bridgette Portman, Jan Probst, Kimberly Ridgeway, George Rose, Sophie Ruf, Sanjit Sengupta, Greg Sigur, Chris Steele, Stan Stone, Lisa Thompson, Maury Zeff.

2025-26 Resident Playwrights: San Francisco: Monique Adams, Madeleine Butler*, Laura Domingo**, Bridgette Dutta Portman, Daniel Martinez Jr., Christian Wilburn; Los Angeles: Summer Broyhill, Amy Ellenberger, Paris Herbert-Taylor, Jonathan Josephson, Mercedes Segesvary, Baylee Shlichtman*; New York: Saiya Floyd, Howard Ho, Dana Leslie Goldstein, Wade Lawrence Hollomon, Lyra Nalan, Camron Wright*; Chicago: Anne Brady*, Jessie Bond, alfonzo kahlil, Juliet Kang Huneke, Karissa Murrell Myers, Katherine Swan.

* Playwrights under commission for the 2025-26 season
** June Anne Baker Award Winner

In addition, PlayGround is pleased to welcome new and returning members of the PlayGround Artist Company: Molly Aaronson-Gelb, Angel Adedokun, Linda Amayo-Hassan, Liz Anderson, Rinabeth Apostol, Michael Asberry, Michael Barrett Austin, Mary Baird, April Ballesteros, Tanika Baptiste, Aldo Billingslea, Julia Brothers, Nicole Apostol Bruno, Lizzie Calogero, Ron Campbell, Nancy, Carlin, Joy Carlin, Ben Chau-Chiu, Zoe Chien, Tessa Corrie, David Cramer, Will Dao, Anne Darragh, Roshni Datta, Natalia Delgado, Dodds Delzell, Livia Gomes Demarchi, Carolyn Doyle, Leticia Duarte, Nora el Samahy, Rebecca Ennals, Britney Frazier, Michael French, Claire, Ganem, Norman Gee, Douglas B. Giorgis, Linda Giron, Amy Glazer, Leon Goertzen, Cindy Goldfield, BW Gonzalez, GG Grilli, Rudy Guerrero, Karina Gutierrez, Rosie Hallett, Katherine Hamilton, Eric Fraisher Hayes, Brian Herndon, Champagne Hughes, J Jha, Christian, Jimenez, Colin Johnson, Jacinta Kaumbulu, Emily Keyishian, Jennifer King, Tessa Koning-Martinez, Randy Lee, Danielle Levin, Amy Lizardo, Jeffrey Lo, Gwen Loeb, Charisse Loriaux, George Maguire, Melanie Marshall, Alicia Mason, Leontyne Mbele-Mbong, Julia McNeal, Sam Misner, Eiko Moon-Yamamoto, Brady Morales-Woolery, Carolina Morones, Lisa Morse, Khary L. Moye, Sakura Nakahara, Molly Noble, Karen Offereins, Annette Oliveira, Soren Oliver, Ely Orquiza, Tony Ortega, Doyle Ott, June Palladino, Carla Pantoja, Louis Parnell, Jed Parsario, Michael, Phillis, Krystle Piamonte, Rebecca Pingree, Stephanie Prentice, Ezra Reaves, Ginny Reed, Cathleen Riddley, Kimberly Ridgeway, Katja Rivera, Adrian Roberts, Stacy Ross, Adam Roy, Katie Rubin, Patrick Russell, Miyoko Sakatani, Louel Senores, Robert Sicular, Dave Sikula, Jeunee Simon, M. Graham Smith, Ken Sonkin, Lauren Spencer, Teddy Spencer, Chris Steele, Howard Swain, Jomar Tagatac, Emilie Talbot, Danielle Thys, Isabel Anne To, Jon Tracy, Dane Troy, Mark Truitt, Liam Vincent, Ian Walker, Maryssa Wanlass, Tracy Ward, Reggie D. White, Christian Wilburn, Wayne Wong, Elena Wright, Hector Zavala.

2025-26 Monday Night PlayGround Season Calendar

Monday Night PlayGround
Round 1: October 13 (LA), October 20 (SF), October 18 (NY), November 5 (Chicago)
Round 2: November 24 (LA), December 1 (SF), December 8 (NY), December 15 (Chicago)
Round 3: January 12 (LA), January 19 (SF), January 26 (NY), February 2 (Chicago)
Round 4: February 23 (LA), March 2 (SF), March 9 (NY), March 16 (Chicago)

Best of PlayGround
April 6, 2026 (LA)
April 20, 2026 (NY)
April 27, 2026 (Chicago)
May 23-24, 2026 (SF)

All programs will be offered both in-person and online this year and are all admission free. Tickets and Monday Night PlayGround memberships go on sale September 1, 2025.

Venue:
Monday Night PlayGround-SF performances (see website for details)
David Brower Center, 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94704
Potrero Stage and simulcast, 1695 18th St, San Francisco, CA 94107

For more information, visit https://PlayGround-SF.org or follow PlayGround on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/playground.sf/) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/playgroundsftheatre/). For information on our sister programs, visit PlayGround-LA, PlayGround-NY and PlayGround-Chicago.

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